


A Different Take on The Umbrella Academy: Season 2

by BrennaThomas



Series: The Umbrella Academy [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:27:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 45,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25678846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrennaThomas/pseuds/BrennaThomas
Summary: Last Season The Umbrella Academy graduates have Time Traveled together to escape the apocalypse in a last ditch effort to stop it from happening. But it doesn’t go as they intend it to.Previously: The formation blinked out of existence and with it gone new sounds hit their ears. The sound of machine-gun fire and ricocheting bullets.Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. I also want to remind everyone reading this, that while Five and Xylda may look thirteen they are actually 58 and 30 respectively. Oh and I will use some things from the comics and other things which I will tag at the end of each chapter.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Umbrella Academy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863454
Comments: 12
Kudos: 60





	1. "Right Back Where We Started"

**“Right Back Where We Started”**

Five and Xylda turned around and moved to the end of the alley to find a street in chaos, a tank and soldiers were making their way down the street. The soldiers shouted and fired on their enemies, some fell and when a bullet hit near Five Xylda pulled him close to shield him as much as she could. Two fighter jets flew overhead and they could see explosions in the distance.

Five broke away from Xylda when he spotted a newspaper, Xylda was quick to move with him, “‘Soviets attack U.S’?” he read.

“Yeah, the flag was big give away.” growled Xylda. A soldier charged the to and she smacked him in the face with her tail sending him flying back.

“No, this can’t be right.” muttered Five.

“Hey kids, get down!” shouted an American soldier as he opened fire on Soviet soldiers.

He was ignored, “What the hell did we do now?” asked Five.

Both Xylda and Five flinched as the tank fired, but were then shocked to see Vanya stop the projectile in its place causing it to explode. Xylda covered Five from the debris and could feel herself tiring, apparently time travel did not agree with her. When the dust from the explosion settled they saw Klaus command the ghosts of soldiers to attack the Soviets and Luther landed next to him just in time to shield him from a bazooka blast. Ben’s ghost was on a roof picking up soldiers and throwing them away and Diego in an impressive feat dodged a group of soldiers’ bullets and made them change directions and kill said soldiers.

It was Diego who spotted them, “Five! Xylda! You sick son’s of bitches, where the hell have you been!?!”

Before Xylda and Five could join the fray, Hazel appeared and grabbed Five’s arm, “If you wanna live, come with me.”

“Hazel. What the hell’s going on here?” demanded Five.

“There’s no time to explain.” he pointed to the sky, “Those are nukes, old timer.”

“What about our family?” asked Xylda watching the nukes fall with a feeling of dread. Her hand automatically finding Five’s, which he squeezed back.

“You can’t save them if they’re dead.” Five and Xylda shared a look before grabbing Hazels outstretched hand and disappearing in a blink.

The three appeared on a quiet sidewalk, “Okay…” said Five, gripping Xylda’s hand and looking around, “What the hell was that?”

“The end of the world, November 25, 1963.” answered Hazel.

“‘63.” muttered Xylda, “You know Hazel I’m no history buff, but I don’t recall there being a nuclear holocaust.”

“No shit.” agreed Hazel.

“What about our family?” asked Five.

“Dead, like everyone else.”

“And where are we now?”

“Dallas.” said Hazel, “Same street. Ten days earlier.” Tired Hazel moved to sit on a bench perched on the edge of the sidewalk. “Plenty of time to restore the timeline and save them.”

Xylda and Five moved to join him, “Okay.” whispered Five, his mind whirling, “So where do we start?”

“‘We’?” asked Hazel, “You to are on your own, pal. I’m just here to keep a promise to Agnes.”

“Is she…?” started Xylda

“Dead?” Xylda nodded, “Cancer. Took her quick. But we had 20 good years together. I guess forever just wasn’t in the cards.”

Five frowned, “I’m sorry, Hazel.” and he meant it. He had felt that stab of pain before and it was the worst pain in the world.

“What about the Commission?” asked Xylda, she had a bone to pick with the agency that had screwed humanity over.

Hazel gave her a look, “I quite those assholes remember? I don’t owe ‘em the fuzz off my peaches.”

“Yeah, well you’ve got more than peach fuzz to offer.” teased Xylda making Hazel chuckled and comb his beard with his fingers.

Five was distracted by a group of three men with almost bleached blonde hair, “If you quite the Commission, then who the hell are those guys?” He asked getting off the bench.

Looking up Hazel swore, “Shit!” Hazel shoved a small square into Xylda’s hand before shoving the briefcase into Five’s hands, “Run!” He shouted just as the three opened fire.

Five flinched away and spatial walked out of instinct and Xylda dove behind a parked car, quickly pocketing whatever Hazel had handed her. Xylda growled and let herself transform as the three stopped firing on a now dead Hazel. With a snarl she leapt at one of them knocking him to the ground before launching at another, he fired and the shotgun blast knocked her back in the air. She hissed in pain as she landed, but rolled with the impact, she didn’t dare stay still long enough to take another hit. Her tail wrapped around the thirds assault rifle and yanked it out of his hands as she flipped onto the hood of the car.

The last one fired at her with a pistol as the first one she knocked down got back up and lunged for her. She grabbed his arm, bit her lip and sunk her teeth into it causing him to cry out in pain, “Ah!” With considerable strength he picked her up with the arm she was biting and threw her across the street. Again she rolled with it and popped up in a crouch, her tail slashing behind her wildly as she snarled at the three men.

As then three advanced Five reached out from behind the car and spatial walked them onto the roof of one of the street’s buildings. They were both panting and Five met her eyes, “You okay?” he asked.

“I think so… I’ve taken a lot of damage and I don’t think time travel agrees with me.” she answered.

He gave her a sympathetic look, “Yeah… it takes some getting used to, but we need to move. You up for a spatial walk?” She nodded and Five blinked them into the alley they had arrived in. Xylda stumbled on the landing and Five helped right her. Her clothes were in tatters from all the damage she had taken not only from the future, but the quick succession of debris and bullets. 

“I’m okay.” she assured him, “It’s just been a while since I’ve taken so much damage. This is nothing compared to injuries I used to get on missions.” She smiled with a mouth full of blood as they heard sirens getting closer, “I lost an arm once.” His eyes widened, and she spat out a glob of blood, the tinkling of metal indicating that she had also spat out a bullet. “Yeah. I just need to get back on the bike.”

Five shook his head, “You sound way too happy about that then you should.” She laughed and the two moved deeper into the alley to get away from the approaching police. Looking up Five tilted his head, “Looks like we have an audience.” Xylda followed his eyes to see curtains being shut and a figure moving away from a window.

“Look.” she said pointing to the roof where several dishes and aerial equipment stood. Sharing a look the two approached a faded light blue door with a sign reading ‘MORTY’S TELEVISION RADIO SHIPPING AND RECEIVING.’ “I’ve got some lockpicks hidden in--” Five spatial walked them inside, “--side my wrist cuffs.” She sighed, “A little warning next time would be nice.”

Five looked a little sheepish, “Sorry.” She rolled her eyes and started up the stairs, letting her scales and tail fade away, with him close behind. Reaching the top they saw a door with a glass panel stating ‘MORTIMER GUSSMAN D.D.S’ Five knocked on it, but it was another door that opened.

An older man leaned towards them with a wild look in his eyes, “What do you want?” he demanded.

Five put on a fake smile, “Hi, I’m selling encyclopedias for my youth group.” the man looked at Xylda and spotting her ruined, black stained clothes and her red eyes, his own eyes widened in fright, “I was curious if--” The man slammed the door in Five’s face. His jaw clenched and he spatial walked inside, Xylda shook her head when she heard the grown man shriek and waited for Five to open the door for her.

Five’s lips quirked into a smile as the man frantically tried to open one of his kitchen drawers for a weapon of some sort. He turned to the door and opened it for Xylda who took one look at the man and sighed in exasperation, “This should be good.”

Finally finding a ‘weapon’ he brandished it towards the pair, “How’d you do that?” he demanded, “And what is she?” Xylda bristled at being called a ‘what’.

“Definitely don’t have time to explain.” said Five, completely unfazed by the man.

“You from the Pentagon? Huh?”

Xylda scoffed, “Definitely not.”

“CIA? FBI? KGB?” The man demanded.

Five looked away from the man and spotted a pot of coffee, “Is that fresh?” he asked spatial walking over to the table, further freaking the man out. 

“Ah!” Xylda giggled at Five’s antics and moved a little closer to the man. “What…” He watched Five pour himself a cup, feeling Xylda get closer he snapped to her and she waved her hand at him.

“You want a cup?” asked Five.

Xylda shook her head, “No thanks.”

Five shrugged and walked by the frightened and panting man, into a larger room. Taking a sip he hummed at the taste, “Hmm. This Columbian?” he asked with an appreciative tone.

“It’s my own blend.” answered the man in shock.

“Hmm.” Five took another sip, “Here dear, try this.” Five held the cup out to Xylda and she walkde over, the man flinching as she passed to take the cup.

Taking a sip her eyes widened, “Hmm. That is very good.” Five took the cup back and the two examined the walls of the room. Xylda smiled at what she saw, “Did we seriously land in 1963 Dallas, Texas and find a conspiracy theorist?”

Five matched her smile with a mischievous look, “Yes, my dear I believe we did.” he leaned towards her a little and whispered, “ _Follow my lead.”_ She nodded subtly and sat back to watch the show, “You ever heard of, uh, Area 51? Roswell?”

The man smiled and dropping his improvised weapon clapped his hands in excitement, “Hot damn!” he exclaimed, “Whoo! See, I always knew we weren’t the only ones.” Five and Xylda continued to examine the room’s contents as the man practically danced in victory, “See, Eleanor thought my head wasn’t screwed on tight, but… but it’s all true, yeah? UFO’s, crop circles…”

“Well, the truth _is_ out there.” said Five making Xylda giggle.

“No, no, no, no, no. The… The truth, it’s…” The man approached Five and Xylda hissed at the man and brandished her tail in front of him making him back pedal, but then laugh in excitement.

“Any closer and I’ll rip you in half.” she threatened.

He nodded, “He needs a little space. Yes. I’ll be over here.” he said, he licked his lips, “Tell me, wh… why is it always an anal probe?” He asked.

Five ignored the question, “All those contraptions on the roof, you built those, right?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, sure did.” the man answered, keeping an eye on Xylda who had let her tail drop but kept it out, “Yeah, I’ve been tracking anomalies in… in the atmosphere. Just waiting.”

“Waiting for what?” asked Xylda.

The man smiled and gestured to her, “For you. For all of you?”

“All of who?” asked Five.

“It all started in 1960 the year of the Silvertone Omega was released. I was in the middle of a sale when something very… strange happened. I saw a blue light and when I went to my window I saw a strangely dressed men shouting for a Diego and Allison.”

“Was the man very, very large or smaller?” asked Xylda.

The mans brow furrowed, “Smaller.”

“Klaus.” said Xylda and Five.

The man continued his story, “So, for the past three years, I’ve witnessed five energy surges in that alleyway out back. Same thing every time. A bright blue light and then something appears.”

“Did you get a good look at them?” asked Five.

“Yeah, the first one was the one you called Klaus and then the big, sensitive one.”

“‘Sensitive’?” questined Five.

The man nodded, “Yeah, cried a lot, kept coming back to the alley, sat around for hours calling a woman’s name. Uh… Allison.”

“Luther.” muttered Xylda.

“Yeah, he… he wasn’t the only one. Uh, the others came too, off and on over the years, looking for each other.” He gestured to the pictured Five was examining and Xylda moved closer so that she could see the blurry images as well. “Eventually, they… they stopped.”

“So, our family is alive.” said Five softly, “I stranded them here.”

Xylda placed a hand on his shoulder, “It was an accident. You were still able to get us all to the same place. It may be in different years, but we’re not decades apart. We can find them now.” She encouraged.

Five looked at her and nodded, “You’re right.” he turned to the man who was staring at them fascination, “Now listen to me…” He advanced on the man who back peddled in fright and crawled over his couch.

“Elliott. Elliott. My name’s Elliott.” he stammered out.

Five spatial walked to be in front of him, “Whatever, all right? We’ve got ten days to find them and save the world.”

“And we need your help to do that.” said Xylda moving to Five’s side.

Elliott stammered and pointed to himself, “You need… my… You know what? I, uh…” he turned to the desk he was backed up against and opened a drawer, “I always thought, that this, uh, mugshot looked like arrival number four.” He held it up for them to see.

“Diego.” said Five grabbing the article.

Xylda groaned after reading it, “Of course, we end up here and Diego gets himself thrown in the hut house,”

“That’s helpful?’ asked Elliott.

Xylda smiled at him, “You have no idea.”

“Let’s go.” said Five grabbing her hand.

“Wait.” she said stopping him before he could make the jump, “I can’t exactly go to the nut house dressed in torn clothes covered in my own blood.”

Elliott’s eyes widened and he reached out for her, “That’s your blood?” Five slapped his hand away before he could touch her.

“You don’t touch her. Ever.”

Elliott guped and held both his hands up, “Right. No touching. Got it.”

“Your clothes aren’t in the best shape either.” she said and Five looked down at his dirt covered suit.

He sighed and turned to Elliott, “We need clothes.”

Elliott frowned, “I don;t think I have anything that would fit either of you.”

“Well then you better go get some that will fit us.” groused Five.

Elliott nodded in fright, “O-okay. There’s a kids clothing store across the street. I’ll go get you both something.” He rummaged around for his wallet and once he had it made for the stairs, “I’ll be right back… Don’t go anywhere.”

**Time Jump!**

Xylda and Five waited for the orderlies to bring Diego to them wearing the clothes Elliott had provided for them. Xylda was wearing a headband in her hair to keep it back, a pair of sunglasses to hide her eyes, a dark green mini skirt, paired with a dark denim button up which she had tucked into her skirt and her boots, which she had refused to part with after seeing the flats Elliott had provided. Five was wearing a white shirt tucked into belted jeans with the jeans cuffs rolled up and a matching jean jacket, Xylda had giggled and remarked that if the jacket was leather instead, paired with his preferred hair style made him look like a young greaser. Five had rolled his eyes and told her that she looked like a darker Nancy Drew, she had taken it as a compliment, much to his amusement.

When the orderlies returned they were very stern as they escorted a scruffy Diego into the room. Diego smiled at seeing them, “Five. Xylda.”

“Hey, Diego.” greeted Five.

“Hey bro.” greeted Xylda, “You look like shit.” Diego chuckled at that remark.

“I think he looks good in white.” commented Five as Diego took a seat.

“About time you two showed up.” said Diego.

“How’d you know we’d be back?” questioned Five.

“Because that’s the kind of shit you pull, Number Five.” 

“Where are the others?” asked Five ignoring the jab.

“They’re not with you?” asked Diego in confusion.

Xylda shook her head, “No. We were hoping you had run into them.”

“Do you actually think I’d be here if I did?”

“How long have you been here?” asked Xylda.

“Seventy-five days.” Xylda reached across to grab his hand and Diego squeezed it, “I landed in the alley behind Commerce and Knox. You?

“We got here this morning.” answered Five.

“How’d you find me?”

Five scoffed and reached into his pocket to pull out the article, “Page 16. ‘Disturbed man with multiple knives arrested outside 1026 N. Beckley.’” He pushed the article across the table, “That’s Lee Havey Oswald’s house. Care to explain?”

Diego chuckled and looked down, “Let’s just say Dallas Law Enforcement has not been supportive of my attempt to stop the assassination of… John F. Kennedy.”

“That’s because it hasn’t happened yet.” said Five.

“And it’s not going to happen. Not on my watch.” said Diego confidently.

Five scoffed and Xylda frowned, “Diego…”

“Look, I’ve been shaving down the bars in my room.” he whispered so the orderlies wouldn’t hear and letting go of Xylda’s hand, “Another day or two and I’ll be out of this place, then I’m gonna stop Oswald and save the president. Either of you want in, say the word.” He winked at his siblings.

“Oh for fucks sake Diego.” bemoaned Xylda, “What the hell are you thinking?” she hissed, “Saving the President… I mean what the hell, we have bigger problems to deal with.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know… how about our incredibly powerful sister who has no control and probably landed alone like you.”

Diego glared, “Do you honestly think I didn’t look for her? I looked for months, but I couldn’t find her. I couldn’t find anyone. So I focused my energy on something I could do.”

“Listen to me very closely.” said Five, “You are not going to do a goddamn thing.”

Diego smirked, “Why not?”

“Because we have to stop the apocalypse.”

“No shit.” said Diego, “But that doesn’t happen for another 60 years.”

“Not that apocalypse.” said Xylda, 

“What?”

“This is a new one.” said Five, “It followed us. I’ve seen it. Nuclear war, Diego, in ten days.”

Diego started laughing and leaned back in his chair crossing his arms, “And I’m the one locked up, huh?” Five scoffed at his reaction, “Fine, I’ll play along. What causes it?”

Five glared at his brother, “I don’t know. Maybe some looney-tune asshole with a hero complex tried to save the president and screwed everything up.”

Diego leaned forward, intrigued, “So you’re saying it worked? I saved the president.”

“Doubtful.” said Xylda.

Diego ignored her, “I knew I could do it. Okay, okay, I’ll help you.”

“Thank god.” sighed Five.

“After I save Kennedy.” pushed Diego making Xylda groan and drop her forehead onto the metal table, “And then you swing us back a few decades so I can slit Hitler’s throat with a butter knife.”

“This is why you don’t have any friends.” said Five, causing Diego to frown, “You know what. Guard?” he got up and sighed, “Our brother is plotting an escape. The bars of his room have been shaved down.”

Diego glared at Five and tried to lunge across the table, “Piece of shit!” Xylda lifted her head and got up from the table calmly as the orderlies held Diego down.

She gave Five a disappointed look, “You didn’t have to do that you know.”

“This is for your own good, Diego.” said Five.

“No! Five! Xylda!”

“My brother is a very sick man.” said Five, “I only pray that he gets the help he so desperately needs.” 

When the nurse jabbed Diego with a needle Xylda leaned down to whisper to him, “We’ll be back for you later just…” Diego passed out, “Well, nighty night.”

Five and Xylda walked out of the room, “So who are we going to try and find next?” asked Xylda.

“Luther.” said Five, “He doesn’t exactly fit in. Someone’s bound to have noticed him around town.”

“We should try the grocers and clothing shops.” She suggested, “he’s got to buy food eventually and a clerk is going to remember selling clothes big enough to fit him.”

**Time Jump!**

“Are we sure that guy was telling the truth?” asked Xylda looking up at the establishments sign dubiously.

“He wasn’t lying.” said Five, “This is the place, but I’m just as shocked as you are. I never would have imagined Luther finding his way to a place like this.”

They were standing outside the ‘Carousel Burlesque’, a gentlemans club, “Well, while this is the sixties Woodstock doesn’t happen until 1969 and I doubt we’re going to see anything worth seeing before the 20th century sexual revolution.”

Five gave her a look, “Been in many Gentleman’s Clubs have you?”

She smirked, “More than you.”

Five smirked back and held up a hand, “Shall we then?” Xylda took his hand and the two blinked inside. 

Xylda quirked an eyebrow, “Wow, this is the most boring Gentlemen’s Club I have ever been in.” She looked around at the patrons and rolled her eyes at the table full of young sailors cheering for the blonde woman dancing on the stage. Looking at Five she could see his gaze was also on the dancing woman, “I didn’t know you liked blonde’s.” she said slyy with a smirk.

“Huh?” asked Five, turning to face her.

“I don’t blame you, she is very…” she tilted her head as the dancer moved her body sensually like a snake, “Limber.”

Five smirked, “I was actually imagining what you would look like wearing that.”

Xylda snorted, “Never gonna happen.” She smirked and leaned in to whisper in his ear, “It covers too much to be any fun.” 

Five hummed and lead his head down to nip at her neck, “I knew there was a reason I loved you.”

“Hmm. Remind me to make you watch Burlesque when we get back.” Xylda caught the arm of a passing waitress startling her. She smiled at the woman, “Hi, i was wondering if you could tell me if you’ve seen our brother. His name is Luther and--”

“Oh, Luther’s your big brother?” the woman said with a smile.

“More like biggest brother.” muttered Five.

“Yes, is he here tonight? We need to talk to him.”

“Of course he’s here. He’s here every night. I just saw him… Ah! There he is, by the bar over there.” The waitress pointed to the bar and low and behold there was Luther.

“Thank you.” said Five making his way over to their brother. Xylda shared a smile with the waitress before following. 

When they reached him Five grabbed the glass out of Luther’s hand and downed it’s content’s in one go. “Hey!” started Luther before realizing who it was who had stolen his drink. “Five? Xylda?”

“Hey, Luther. First getting high at a rave and taking home a furry and now a Gentlemen’s Club in the 1960’s…” She shook her head and tsk’d. “You’re going down hill Number One.”

Five chuckled, but Luther frowned, “What do you want?” he demanded, making Xylda’s eyes narrow.

“How long have you been here?” asked Five.

“A year, thanks to you.”

“And in doing so he saved you from being killed, your welcome.” pointed out Xylda, “Interesting how you and Diego are quick to forget that part.”

Luther straightened at mention of their brother, “You found Diego? Where is he?”

“He’s in the nuthouse, because he couldn’t find any of us and decided to kill Oswald before he could kill Kennedy.”

“He did what?”

“You mean you failed to notice your brother’s mug shot in the newspaper?” she snarked.

“I’ve been busy.” defended Luther.

“Doing what? Tending bar?”

Seeing the potential for violence Five placed a hand around Xylda’s waist and pulled her back from Luther. Xylda folded into his side and turned her head to watch the stage. “I’m sorry, Luther. I know it hasn’t been easy for you.”

“I thought everyone was dead.” said Luther. 

His attention was pulled to the other side of the room, “Come on, Jack! Don’t make me beg!”

“Just back off.”

Luther sighed, “I gotta go.” he said making to walk away but Five grabbed his arm stopping him.

“Luther, wait. Look, I get it, okay? I know what it’s like to be stuck in time… thinking this is how you’re gonna live out the rest of your life.” said Five solemnly, “One the run, and not knowing if you’re ever gonna see the people you love again, and to be in an unfamiliar world.” Xylda gave Five a heartbroken look, “But Luther, you’re not alone. We have to find the others because the world ends in ten days. I have no idea how to stop it.”

Luther stared at his siblings with indifference, “I don’t give a shit.” he declared.

Xylda grabbed his arm and yanked him back and his back thumped against the bar, “The hell is wrong with you, Luther?”

**End of Chapter 1**


	2. "The Frankel Footage"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Luther stared at his siblings with indifference, “I don’t give a shit.” he declared.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. I also want to remind everyone reading this, that while Five and Xylda may look thirteen they are actually 58 and 30 respectively. 

**“The Frankel Footage”**

Xylda grabbed his arm and yanked him back and his back thumped against the bar, “The hell is wrong with you, Luther? You’ve just been told the world’s going to end in ten days.”

Luther rolled his eyes, “Yeah, well, Five is always saying that.” He moved to walk away again, but Five shoved at his chest, surprising Luther with his strength.

“And so far, I’ve been right.”

“Look, you want to go save the world? Knock yourself out. All right? I already got a job.”

“Wait, you actually do work in this shithole?” asked Five incredulously.

“Yeah. Well, my boss owns the place. I’m his body man.”

“I think you mean body guard.” corrected Xylda.

“Yeah, body man sounds like a masseuse or something.” added Five.

Luther frowned, “Okay, you two can make fun all you want, but I take good care of Mr. Ruby.”

Five’s brow furrowed in thought, “Wait, Ruby?  _ The _ Jack Ruby, the gangster who shot Oswald?”

Luther nodded, “Yeah, the one and only.” he smiled proudly.

Five sighed, “Well, it finally happened. That gorilla DNA has taken over your mind.”

“Hey, watch it, all right? Jack’s a good friend.” said Luther.

“And you’re Number One. Numero Uno. Remember?”

Luther shook his head, “There is no Number One. Not anymore. Not in 1963.” He sighed at their matching disappointed looks, “look, I’ve been stranded here alone for a year. WHat did you expect?”

Five’s jaw clenched, “I get it, all right? The world exploded and I marooned your big dumb ass in time. I’m sorry, okay?” He sighed, “But I’m asking for your help, Luther. The Umbrella Academy needs you.”

Luther scoffed softly, “It doesn’t need me. It never did.”

Just then a distressed waitress walked over, “Luther, honey, Jack’s about to lose it on some half-wit. A little help?” 

The three siblings turned to see a tall thin man harassing the gangster, “Ah, shit.” swore Luther.

“Luther wait.” tried Five, but this time Luther got past them both.

“Listen. You’re the genius who said we should jump. Right? You’re the one who got us stuck here. If there is a doomsday coming, go find Vanya, she caused the last one she probably causes this one too. And if I was going to do something about it, it sure as hell is not gonna be with the two of you.”

Xylda shook her head as Luther walked away, “Dad should have left him on the moon.” She turned away from the bar and her skirt snagged on a stool. Grumbling she got it free and was confused when she felt something in her pocket, frowning she pulled something out of her pocket and her eyes widened, “Shit.”

Five turned to her with a worried look, “What?” he noticed the orange square in her hand, “What is that?”

“Hazel he… he gave this to me right before he was killed. I-- I forgot about it with going to see Diego and tracking down Luther. I--”

“It’s alright.” comforted Five taking the square, “Time traveling for the first time kinda messes with your system.” She nodded sadly and picked up a drink from the bar to down as he read the label, “‘Frankel Footage. 11/22/63’.” he read.

“That’s the day…”

“The President is assassinated.” finished Five.

“We need to see what’s on this.” They said together.

“Tomorrow.” added Five, surprising her. He sighed, “All the camera shops are probably closed and breaking into one is pointless because neither of us know how to develop this. And you need some to rest.”

“I’m--”

“You’re not.” he denied, “You need to rest, we both do. And what kind of husband would I be if I let my wife over work herself.”

She snorted and rolled her eyes, “You still have yet to propose and give me a ring, so…”

Five smirked, “You hate rings. There’s too much potential of breaking your finger, losing the stones and denting the metal. And a necklace or bracelet can be ripped off and lost.”

She gave him an impressed look at how well he knew her, “So what would you suggest?”

“I have been entertaining the notion of ring tattoos.”

She quirked an eyebrow, “You sure? That’s very permanent.” She warned, “After all you could get tired of me some day and want to be with someone else. You might want a divorce…”

“Always and Forever.” he said.

She smiled and kissed his cheek, “Always and Forever.” she agreed.

**Time Jump!**

Xylda sipped her coffee at her spot on Elliott’s couch. Elliott had been surprised when they emerged from the same room and even more confused when Five had kissed her after she handed him a full cup of coffee.

“Um, are the two of you…”

“Together?” asked Xylda, ELliott nodded. “Yes, we are.”

Elliott frowned, “But aren’t you…”

“Too young?” offered Five, Elliott nodded. “While we may look like children I am 58 and my lovely Xylda here is in her 30’s.”

Elliot’s eyes widened, “Amazing! So your kind age differently than humans… Fascinating.”

Five shrugged, “Close enough.”

“So does that mean that your siblings are even older than you?”

Xylda shook her head, “No, Five is older than them. I guess Klaus would be next, since he spent a year in the past and then he arrived here in 1960, next was Allison in 1961, then Luther in 1962, then Diego seventy-five days ago and then Vanya a couple months after that, if your dates are accurate Eliott.”

“They are! Definitely.” 

“Well then, I guess we’re finally going to get different birthday cakes like we’ve always wanted.” she laughed a little, dad had let them have cake on their birthday, but opted for a single cake instead of one for each. Which was problematic for them because they had different favorites.

Five’s face scrunched up, “Mhhm, I’ve given up sweets after the whole bad twinkie situation.”

“I bet I could change your tune.”

He quirked an eyebrow, “How?”

“Ever heard of Honey Dust?” Five gave her a look she could only describe as filthy, “I’ll take that as a yes. That was supposed to be your real surprise.”

“The lingerie was a distraction.” he said in realization, “You little minx.”

“Well, I’ve got to find some way to keep a genius like you on your toes.”

“Um… what’s Honey Dust?” asked Elliott awkwardly.

Both Five and Xylda gave him exasperated looks, “Oh, you poor sheltered boy.” bemoaned Xylda.

Five rolled his eyes and got up to examine Elliott’s pictures of his siblings, “Elliott, did you develop these photos yourself?” He asked.

“Of course.” said Elliott, happy for the change of topic, “Can't exactly drop that stuff of at the neighborhood Fotomat. Government has eyes everywhere.”

“I didn’t see a dark room.” said Xylda.

“Yeah, I converted the hallway closet.” Hearing some feedback on his machine Elliott adjusted one of the knobs.

Five scratched out the date of square Hazel had given them and held it out to Elliott, “Can you develop this?” he asked.

Elliott took the square and read the label, “Huh. ‘Frankel Footage.’ Friends of yours?” he asked.

“Cousin’s on my robot mother’s side.” said Five, “Can you do it or not?”

“Sure I can.” said Elliott.

“How long?” asked Xylda.

Elliott pursed his lips, “Well, I mean, I’m running low on acetic acid. Beeker’s Cameras is open today, but it’s two miles away. I mean, I’d have to take the bus.” Five gave Elliott a very annoyed look, “On the other hand, Gibson’s is only ten blocks away, but I gotta cut through the park, and there’s pigeons--”

“Elliott.” said Five firmly.

“It’s like five, maybe six hours.” said Elliott nervously.

“ _ Attention all units, we have a code 3-15 at the Holbrook Sanitarium.” _ The statement came over Elliott’s radio catching their attention.

“That’s where Diego is.” said Xylda worriedly.

“The hell’s a code 3-15?” asked Five.

“Mmm, fugitives on the run.” answered Elliott.

Five went to the radio and turned up the volume, “ _ Twenty-five patients still at large. Many are considered armed and dangerous.” _

“Who’s Diego?” asked Elliott.

Five sighed in exasperation, “Imagine Batman, then aim lower.”

“He’s gotta be after Oswald.” said Xylda.

Five nodded, “You get started on that film.” said Five, “We’ll be back as soon as we can.” Elliott nodded as the two left.

**Time Jump!**

Finding out where Oswald worked wasn’t hard, people in 1963 were a lot more trusting than people in 2019. Though Xylda chalked that up to Five and herself looking like children, after all, who doesn’t trust a child. Arriving at the location it didn’t take them long to find where Diego was watching the building, “Someone’s with him.” said Xylda, “A woman.”

Five frowned, “Of course there is…” He let out a breath, “It doesn’t matter, let’s just get him away from Oswald and back to Elliotts.” Xylda nodded and Five spatial walked them into the back seat of the car.

“Then why are you doing this?’ asked the woman.

“Because he’s an idiot.” said Five making the woman jump and turn to face the back seat. Xylda and Five clocked the practiced way her body tensed to defend from an attack.

“Who the hell are you two?” she asked in an unmistakable British accent.

Five waved with a smile, “Hi. I’m his loving brother.”

“And I’m his sister.” added Xylda with her own wave.

“Who left me to rot in the nuthouse.” said Diego.

“I told you we were coming back for you.” defended Xylda.

“Yeah, I must have missed that when they drugged me.” snarked Diego.

“We were protecting you from yourself.” said Five.

“That’s quite sweet.” said the woman.

Diego shook his head, “Okay, all three of you, out.”

Five growled and lead forward, “Lose the crazy lady and come with us. We have important business.”

“I am not going anywhere with you.” said Diego firmly.

Five looked out the window and spotted and police officer, “Okay, fine.” He scooted closer to the open window and called out, “Officer!” 

“Hey!” hissed Diego practically crawling into the back to grab Five, “What are you doing?”

Xylda smirked, “There’s a reward out for the two of you.”

“Their bluffing.” said the woman.

Diego and Five stared at one another, not blinking, “He’s not.” said Diego letting go of Five and returning to the passenger seat. “Fine. I’ll go with you.”

“What about me?” asked the woman.

“And I’m bringing the crazy lady.” said Diego, much to Five and Xylda’s annoyance.

“Fine.” said Xylda, “We need to go back to the alley.”

“Commerce and Knox.” said Diego. 

The woman nodded, “My name’s Lila, by the way. Lila Pitts.”

“He’s Number Five and she’s Xylda.” said Diego.

“So you’re his younger siblings?”

Xylda smirked, “Actually, we were all born on the same day, but Five is technically 28 years older than Diego and the rest of our siblings. Including myself.”

“And Xylda and I are together.” added Five.

Lila gave Diego a strange look, “We were all adopted by our dad.”

“Bought by our dad.” corrected Xylda.

“Seriously? Every time?” groaned Diego.

“It’s a distinction that I think is very important.” defended Xylda.

“Wow.” said Lila, “You guys are very weird.”

“You have no idea.” mused Five.

**Time Jump!**

Returning to Elliot’s place the group was greeted by a rifle wielded by Elliott. All three siblings were calm, and Lila held up her hands a gesture of harmlessness, Xylda was more amused than anything else.

“Where did you get the film?” demanded Elliott. “The ‘Frankel Footage’? The  _ truth _ this time.”

“You know this lunatic?” asked Diego.

Five sighed, “New acquaintance.”

“He’s harmless.” said Xylda.

“Are you sure about that?” questioned Lila. Xylda narrowed her eyes at the woman, she wasn’t as nervous as she was pretending to be.

“Are you or are you not an enemy of the people?” shouted Elliot. The three siblings looked at one another.

“That’s such an opened-ended question, yeah.” said Diego.

“Really depends on the people.” agreed Five.

“Cause let’s be honest some people are just assholes.” added Xylda.

Elliott glared at them, “You move one more muscle, and I will blow your brains out.” He threatened.

Diego looked at his siblings, “You want to take this or should I?”

Xylda smiled at Five, “After you.”

“Thank you, dear.”

Diego nodded, “Hey Lila…” as soon as Lila turned her head, Five Spatial walked to Elliott. He quickly pushed the gun up and Xylda shot forward to yank it out of Elliott’s hands. She ejected the clip and the round in the chamber which clinked to the floor.

Lila sputtered, “What the hell just happened?” 

Xylda shrugged with a smile, “Teamwork?’ she offered.

“So what do we do with him?” asked Lila.

A wicked grin grew on Xylda’s face, “Now we tie him up and see what’s on the film he developed for us.”

**Jump!**

Luther clutched the wallet in his hand as he walked up to the barn. He couldn’t believe he had found Vanya, but he was also very confused. She had clearly seen him when she picked up the man from the club, but she hadn’t called out to him or gone to him. He worried that she was angry for what had happened at the theatre, from her point of view her siblings had attacked her. He just hoped she was willing to listen to him.

He took a deep breath and entered the barn, “Harlan?” he heard her call out. When the wood of the door creaked she turned around to face him.

“Vanya?” he asked softly.

She looked surprised, “You know who I am?” she asked excitedly.

Luther was shocked, “What? Of course I know you.”

“Oh, my god, I’ve been putting ads in the… in the paper, hoping someone would recognize me. How do we know each other?” She asked desperately.

Luther frowned, “You’re my sister.”

Vanya’s eyes widened, “I have a brother?”

“You really don’t remember anything?” asked Luther.

“Just my name.” Her brow furrowed, “I… I had an accident, and it affected my memory.”

“What kind of accident? Are you okay?” he asked worriedly stepping closer to her.

She chuckled, “Well, apart from the memory loss, yeah, I’m okay. Considering I got hit by a car I guess I should be thankful.”

“You got hit by a car?”

She nodded, “Yeah, Sissy was driving. Apparently I was wandering down the street dressed in a white suit and she didn’t see me until she hit me.” There was some clattering and Harlan came out of hiding and ran to Vanya, who hugged him, “Harlan, Harlan. Hey…”

Luther tilted his head and smiled at the boy, “Who’s the kid?” A rifle cocked behind him.

“He’s my son.” Luther slowly turned his head to see a blonde woman aiming a rifle at his back. “And you got about ten seconds to explain your business here.”

“No, no, no, no. It’s alright Sissy!” said Vanya, not wanting Sissy to hurt Luther. “He knows who I am! He says he’s my brother!”

“Then why didn’t he use the front door?” asked Sissy, not lowering her gun.

“I saw Vanya and I was so shocked that I didn’t think and went to talk to her.” explained Luther.

“If you didn’t know she was here then why did you come?” 

Luther held up the wallet, “I found it on the floor at the Carousel Club. Belongs to your husband.”

Sissy lowered the rifle to take the wallet and opening it saw that it was indeed her husbands. So she uncocked her gun, “Next time use the front door.”

Luther nodded, “Yes ma’am.”

“Are you really her brother?”

“Yes. I thought she was dead.” He said shocking both women, “But I am very happy to know that I was wrong. Our siblings will be happy to hear that she’s okay.”

“I have more siblings?” asked Vanya.

“Yeah. You have six other siblings, it used to be seven, but Ben died when we were kids.” He explained.

Vanya frowned, “I’m sorry… I don’t remember him.” she said sadly.

Luther shook his head, “That’s okay.” He looked at his watch, “I need to get back to work, but if you want to talk I’ll leave my address okay?” Vanya nodded. “Are you happy Vanya?”

She smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I think I am.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear that.”

**Jump!**

Five took charge of the projector, Elliott now tied to a chair and gagged, sat facing the screen as Lila painted his toe nails. Xylda and Diego stood off to the sides to watch the film in rapt attention.

" _ Is it on?" _ Asked the old woman on the screen.

_ "I don't know." _ answered a man.

_ "What do you mean? There's an 'on' button. Just-- There's something over-- that jigga-ma-thinh, whatever." _

_ "I hit the jagga'ma-thing."  _ Said the man.

But the old woman wasn't buying it,  _ "Okay, sell, just-- Give it to me. I know how to do this." _

Wisely the man handed it over,  _ "All right, here. Here. Hurry up." _

_ "Okay, all right, let's see…" _

"They're so cute." Mused Lila. "I love old couples. I'm always so proud of them for not murdering each other."

"Who says they haven't tried." Said Xylda much to Lila's amusement.

"Why are we watching this?" Whined Diego.

"Shush." Ordered Five his gaze fixed on the screen.

" _ Yeah, I… I'm Dan Frankel. And…" _

_ "I'm Edna Frankel." Added the woman. _

_ "... Edna Frankel. We are in Dallas Texas, to see the president. Today's date is November 22, 1963." _ That caught Diego and Lila's attention.

"Well, that's six days from now." Said Lila.

"Holy shit. This is it." Said Diego. "The grassy knoll. Kennedy's about to get shot. How did you guys get this?"

"Hazel died getting us this footage." Said Five, "It must be the key to stopping Doomsday."

"Hazel?"

"Long story." Said Xylda. She honestly didn't want to think about it. Hazel had gotten out of the Commission only to be hummed down, by the organization he once served. He hadn't deserved that, no matter his past actions he didn't deserve to be gunned down on a bench in 1963. He wouldn't even get a proper burial beside Agnes which saddened her even more about his death.

"What's Doomsday?" Asked Lila.

"Longer story." Said Five.

"What exactly did he say to you?"

"Well, he was killed before he could explain. But whatever he wanted us to see, it's on this film."

"Who killed him?"

"Three blonde Commission goons." Said Xylda.

"Those are the nut jobs that tried to kill us at the sanitarium." Said Lila.

Diego frowned, "Why is it always your fault someone is trying to kill me lately?"

"Oh, stop pointing. There will be plenty of people who will want to kill you because you're you." Snarked Xylda.

_ "This is very exciting."  _ Said Dan on the film just before a loud shot rang out and people began screaming.

"Oswald." Said Diego.

Xylda frowned, "I don't think that was a gunshot."

"What do you mean?" Asked Lila.

Xylda shook her head, "It sounded off… bigger maybe."

"Well then the Frankel's must be close to the shooter." Reasoned Diego.

Something on screen caught the siblings attention and caused them to freeze in shock, "Oh, no." Said Five quickly freezing the image on the screen and pulling the projector back to zoom in. Xylda and Diego approached the screen slowly, hoping that their eyes were lying to them. "It can't be." Whispered Five.

"Okay, you gonna fill me in now?" Asked Lila,"What the hell is this shit we're watching?"

She was ignored by all three, "No, that's impossible."

"Clearly not." Said Xylda.

"What… what is it?" Asked Elliott through his gag.

"Dad." Said all three siblings.

"That son of a bitch." Hissed Xylda.

"Of course Dad would be involved in the assassination. I should've known." Said Diego.

Five shook his head, "No, your jumping to conclusions."

"What the hell is he doing standing on the grassy knoll, holding an open black umbrella on a sunny day in Dallas the exact same moment the president gets shot?" Demanded Diego loudly.

"It doesn't look good, I admit." Started Five, 

"No he's the signalman for the whole goddamn thing." Said Diego.

"Easy Diego." Warned Five, "Seriously."

"No, it makes sense. This is what Hazel was obviously trying to tell you. We have to stop dad from killing the President." Declared Diego.

Five wasn't moved, "Diego, calm down, all right? Dad was no Boy Scout, but presidential assassination? It's never been his thing."

"How would you know?" Challenged Diego. "You skipped out on his golden years."

"Skipped out?" Said Five incredulously, Diego knew he had crossed a line, "You think I had it easy, Diego? I was alone for 45 years." He trailed off, "You know what? We don't have time for this right now. Dad's clearly in Dallas, right? Let's just go talk to him. Maybe he can help us fix the timeline."

"Dallas is a big place. We need to find him first." Groused Diego.

"Gee, if only we had some magical, old-timey way of finding people and their addresses." Snarked Five and went to find Elliott's phone book.

"It's in the kitchen by the phone." Muttered Elliot.

Diego shook his head as Five went to get the book and his attention was soon caught by Xylda. He frowned at her heavy breathing and tightly clenched fists, looking closely he could see black droplets dripping to the floor. He placed a hand on her shoulder, "You okay, Xylda?" He asked slowly. Xylda came a close second to Vanya as far as relationships with their dad went. To him Xylda was more along to a dog sent to guard the rest of them on missions. To take hits for them and help heal them when they were injured, she had to always be Number Right, the Gargoyle, whenever outside of the house, on missions or around the press. Sometimes Xylda would be more… animal than human because she had been transformed for too long. She had even gone after their Dad once and it had taken all of them to take her down long enough to talk some sense into her. Though the credit lied with Ben as, apart from Five, he was the only one whole could take her head on and sometimes Diego wished Ben hadn't stopped her.

Being around the old man now might cause a repeat performance. "I'm fine." She said through clenched teeth.

"You don't look fine. Ah!" Lila flinched back and dropped the nail brush she had been using, as the tip of Xylda's tail was suddenly at her throat.

"Xylda." Said Diego cautiously.

Lila stared at the black and scaley tail and Xylda's newly revealed red eyes in fright. Xylda felt a little satisfaction that this time Lila's reaction was genuine. 

"Hey, Five a little help might be nice." Called Diego not taking his eyes off of his angry sister.

Five was preoccupied though, flipping through the phone book to find their Dad, "What the hell is he doing there?" He muttered.

"Five!" Shouted Diego finally getting his attention. 

Five looked up, his eyes landed on Xylda and his brow furrowed in worry at the blood dripping from her fiats. Seeing what she was doing though, he rolled his eyes. Abandoning the phone book he walked over, grabbed her tail and yanked her into his arms. "Curb your bloodlust, dear. You're scaring the kids." Xylda didn't relax all that much in his arms, but she did remove the tip of her tail from Lila's throat. Her fists remained clenched though. "I knew you shouldn't of had that second cup of coffee." He teased to try and relax her further.

Seeing how shaken Lila was Diego approached her slowly, but she ran from the room. Sighing, he followed leaving his two siblings alone.

“How much?” asked Five.

“Hmm?”

“How much worse did Dad get when I left?” he asked slowly.

“I almost killed him.” said Xylda, Five looked down at her with a raised eyebrow, “I had been transformed for so long I was more animal than human and I just… I guess I couldn’t take it anymore and finally went for him.” She chuckled, “If it wasn’t for Ben I would have succeeded too.”

“What happened?” he asked.

“I honestly don’t know. We got back from the mission, I saw him and I blacked out. The next thing I know is I’m waking up suspended in the air by Ben with Dad’s blood in my mouth and on my claws.” She pursed her lips, “According to Klaus I grew wings. I think he was the only one who was disappointed I had failed at the time and if he could have helped he would have.”

“Impressive.” he praised, “I’m sorry I skipped out before I could see that.”

Xylda frowned, “You didn’t skip out.”

He scoffed, “Yeah, well that’s not what our siblings think.”

“Luther and Diego are scared right now, because they think they’ve experienced what you have, but they haven’t.” she said firmly, “Sure they got stuck in time, but they haven’t been alone. Luther’s only been here a year and Diego a few months, but in all that time they haven’t been alone. Not like you were. They’ve been able to talk to other people, real people, so it is nothing compared to what you went through.” She cradled his face in her hands, “Unlike them you didn’t give up. You remained strong and endured not only the desolate world you found yourself in, but the horrors the Commission put you through. All to get back to Luther and Diego’s ungrateful asses.”

Five leaned forward to press their foreheads together, “I don’t know if I should be awed or worried by how loyal you are to me.”

“Both.” she said surprising him. She shrugged, “Let’s face it. You’re an immortal time traveling assassin with a perfect kill record and I’m a literal monster, who’s also immortal and used to be a hitman.”

Five’s smile was goofy, “A match made in hell.”

She snorted and pushed him away, “You’re such a sap. Worse than Klaus.”

“I’m a romantic.” he corrected.

“Oh, really?” she asked going into the kitchen to continue looking through the phone book.

He nodded, “Yes, I am. I just haven’t had the time to show you properly.” He came over to join her.

“So you think that because you’re old you’re romantic?” she asked as she searched through the H’s for their dad.

“Age has nothing to do with it.” said Five.

Xylda frowned and shook her head, “He’s not listed in the H’s.”

“The let’s try his company, D.S Umbrella Manufacturing Co.”

Xylda nodded and turned to the appropriate section and after some searching she found it, “Holy shit. Eighty-two Olive.”

“Let’s grab Diego and go.”

**Time Jump!**

Diego drove them and pretty soon the three were outside D.S Umbrella Manufacturing Co. “This is it.” said Five as they all exited the car.

Five hesitated as they approached the building catching Diego and Xylda’s attention, “You okay?” asked Diego. 

“Yeah, fine. Just…”

“You sure?” asked Xylda, “This will be the first time you’ve seen him in 45 years. You sure you’re up for this?”

Five bit his lip, “You know, when I was stuck out there in the apocalypse, there wasn’t a day that went by where I didn’t hear his voice in my head.”

“What was he saying?” asked Diego as he tried to pick the lock, “Ah, shit.”

“‘I told you so.’” said Five.

Diego smirked, “Well, is dad’s here, he’s never met you before, so he can’t say ‘I told you so.’”

“I’m sure he’ll find a way.” said Xylda.

“You don’t have to do this, Five.” offered Diego, “Xylda and I can handle dad.” He looked at Xylda, “You can keep yourself from killing him until after he helps us, right?” she nodded, so Diego smiled at Five, “See? We got this.”

Five rolled his eyes, spatial walked inside and opened the door, “I guess that means he’s fine.”

“Yeah, well keep an eye on him just in case.” ordered Diego as Five walked deeper into the building.

Xylda smirked, “Are you scared of him?”

“No.” scoffed Diego, but Xylda didn’t believe his high pitched denial.

“Yeah, you are.” she giggled and walked in the same direction Five did.

“I’m not--” Diego trailed off as she turned a corner, “I’m not scared of him.” he muttered as he followed after his siblings.

Five turned on a lamp, but it flickered and turned off, “Shit.”

“Guess dad wasn’t one for home decor.” said Diego.

Five patted a throw pillow and dust puffed off of it, “Feels more like a front.”

“A front for what?”

Five shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“Maybe for whoever’s here with us.” said Xylda, something was raising her hackles and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to find out what it was.

“Well, I’ll take the left.” said Diego opening a door, “Yell if you, uh… get in trouble.”

Five and Xylda went through another door which led to a darkly lit hallway, Xyda extended her claws and tail which earned her a look. “Just being cautious. Something’s here and it’s making me nervous.” Five nodded and drew a knife of his own. The first door was locked, but a second opened to reveal a dark room. Seeing a switch Xylda moved to one side of the door and Five the other, when Five nodded she flipped the switch. 

The room was confusing. A family of three dummies sat in a fake living room, “What are you up too?” muttered Five.

“This is reminding me of those towns the military would build for nuclear testing.” said Xylda, when the lights went out she growled, “I don’t like this Five. Somethings not right.”

“Agreed. C’mon.” 

They left the room one room only to find another, this one had the family in a kitchen setting with a camera pointed at the occupied table. Seeing some mail on a counter, Five went over to examine them, but Xylda tensed as she breathed in and caught a very familiar scent.

“Five.” she said quietly.

Five pocketed whatever he had found to turn to her and picked up the knife he had set down. She tilted her head towards the corner and mouthed the word,  _ ‘Pogo’ _ , his eyes widened.

_ ‘Seriously?’ _ She nodded.

A soft clattering sound came from the corner and they approached it slowly and Pogo came out to greet them.

“Hi.” said Five softly and kneeled down to be the same height as their young future caretaker, “Hey.” Pogo hooted softly and approached Five, “It’s all right, little buddy.” Five smiled, “Pogo. It’s good to see you.” He lifted his hand and touched the side of Pogo’s head. Pogo screeched and slashed at Five’s neck suddenly, making him cry out in pain, “Ah!” Xylda’s eyes widened and she chased after Pogo as he jumped up to crash through the glass window. Five clutched his neck, “Ah. Diego! Diego!” he called out. Not hearing a response or running footsteps he groaned in annoyance, “Damn it.” he cursed and ran after Pogo and Xylda.

Xylda followed Pogo closely but skidded to a stop when they came to an edge of a roof and Pogo dropped down to join Reginald Hargreeves. Xylda growled as she smelled Diego’s blood which drew Reginalds attention to her, his eyes widened in shock. He saw a dark figure with glowing red eyes and a tail whupping behind it in agitation.

Letting herself transform completely she dropped down and growled at him. Pogo screeched in fright and gripped Reginalds hand, Reginald tensed, but Xylda didn’t make a move towards them. She could hear Diego nearby and since he hadn’t joined them yet he was badly injured, she snarled at Reginald and moved backwards in the direction of Diego. Reginald did the same in the opposite direction with Pogo and soon they disappeared into the fog.

Five appeared on the roof and seeing her spatial walked to join her. “What happened?” he asked, seeing how agitated she was, but then he looked behind her a frowned, “Oh.” Xylda turned to see Diego lying on the ground with closed eyes and went to his side. Five lifted up his shirt to see the wound and winced, “I guess dad didn’t like us dropping in for a visit.” She didn’t say anything and got to work. Diego groaned in pain as she pulled his wound open further to slip her tongue inside and lick his wound.

“Holy shit!” Five spun around and flung his knife towards the voice. To his surprise Lila dodged his throw, “What the hell is your problem!” she cried out, but Five narrowed his eyes at the woman. “And what the hell is that?” She pointed at Xylda.

Five snarled, “ _ She _ . Is saving Diego’s life.” he stepped closer to Lila, “The better question is; what the hell are you doing following us?”

Lila scoffed, “Excuse me for thinking a bunch of kids could be any help to Diego.” Looking at Diego and Xylda she smirked, “And I was right.”

Five rolled his eyes, “The idiot got himself hurt, because he thought he could take on our dad one on one.” Lila walked over and Five grabbed her arm before she could pass him, “And call her a what again and I’ll cut your tongue out.” The two stared on another down until Xylda spoke up.

“Stop your measuring contest and get Diego back to the car.” she said. Having finished healing him she fixed his shirt and stood up. She walked over to Five and tilting his head she licked his neck to heal the scratches from Pogo.

Lila gagged at the happy look on Five’s face, “You two are disgusting.”

Five glared at her, “Just grab the idiot and meet us back at Elliots. The keys are in his pockets.” He wrapped his arms around Xylda and spatial walked them back to Elliott.

“We can’t trust Lila.” he said unceremoniously as they landed in Elliott’s living room/balcony.

**End of Chapter 2**


	3. "The Swedish Job"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: “We can’t trust Lila.” he said unceremoniously as they landed in Elliott’s living room/balcony.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. I also want to remind everyone reading this, that while Five and Xylda may look thirteen they are actually 58 and 30 respectively. 

**“The Swedish Job”**

It wasn’t until dusk the next day that Xylda untied Elliott and woke him up while Five made himself a cup of coffee. Xylda made a note to monitor his caffeine intake from now on, the last thing she needed to deal with was a hyperactive Five spatial walking all over the place. Elliott screamed and backed away from her falling off the chair and to the floor and Xylda was confused until she looked down at her hands and saw her claws. Sighing she let them fade and her tail recede, she hadn’t realized she had gone to bed transformed, Five hadn’t said anything to her.

Five rolled his eyes as Elliott desperately pulled at him to get himself back on his feet, “Stop screaming. Some people are trying to sleep.” Elliott pointed at Xylda frantically, his mouth moving but no sounds coming out. Five sighed, the incredibly early morning had been going so well, he had woken up with a completely transformed Xylda practically wrapped around him and snuggling into him in her sleep. It had been a nice calm, normal moment for him, something he hadn’t had in a long time and something he wanted to experience regularly. He relly didn’t feel like dealing with a freaked out Elliott. “Yes, she can grow scales and a tail. No I can’t and neither can Diego or our other siblings. And no she’s not going to eat you.” When an alarm started going off Five looked at Elliott in annoyance, “What’s that?” he asked tiredly.

Elliott eyed Xylda as he passed her, “It’s one of those machines you asked for. We must have got one.”

Five’s eyes widened and all feelings of sleep left him, “Which one?” He asked, placing down his coffee to follow him.

Xylda followed them both over to Elliott’s machines, “It’s the, uh, atmospheric radar.” said Elliott.

“Good.” said Five examining the screen.

“I don’t get it.” said Elliott with a furrowed brow, “What are you tracking? A hurricane? A storm front?”

“Sound waves.” said Five, giving Xylda a triumphant smile.

“Did he find her?” she asked.

Five nodded, “Lets go get our sister.” Xylda smiled and took his hand, though when they landed in the middle of a field she frowned.

“If this turns into a Children of the Corn situation I am leaving you here.” she said seriously, eyeing corn stalks surrounding them warily. “Without regrets or hesitation I will leave you to be sacrificed.” Five was amused at her declaration

“I’m surprised Dad had that in his library.” He said, as he started their trek into the field with Xylda right behind him.

“He didn’t. Ben and I would sneak out and use the money we saved to buy whatever books we wanted.” she chuckled, “Dad would have blown a gasket if he ever saw some of the books we got. And we are so watching the films when we get the chance.”

“Will that be before or after Burlesque.” he quipped.

“Burlesque is last.” she answered without missing a beat, “If Elliott’s machine was able to pick up on Vanya using her powers that means she used a lot of power right?”

“Most likely.” He said, “Remember we don’t know a lot about what she can do. What we do know is that she’s powerful enough to destroy the entire moon in one move.”

Xylda nodded, “Right, but what we do know is that she has basically no control so if she used her powers in this field…”

Five stopped walking and turned to her, “... Then there’s going to be some visible damage.”

She nodded, “And we’re not going to see it from ground level. If you stand on my shoulders you should be able to see it.” She got down on one knee, held up her hand and let her tail unfold to help support him.

Five took her hand and let her tail wrap around his waist before placing one foot on one of her shoulders, “On three. 1… 2… 3!” Xylda stood up as Five lifted himself up, using her tail to take some of his weight and her hand to steady him. “Alright, let go of my hand and hold my legs. Ready?”

“Go.” she said. And let go of his hand to grab his shins.

Keeping his balance Five held Xylda’s tail as he looked around, “Okay, turn in a circle slowly.” Xylda turned to the right slowly, “Holy shit.”

“Dare I ask.”

“There’s a crater.”

Xylda sighed and bowed her head, “Of course there is. For fu-- Can you get us over there?”

“Yeah. Let me down.” Xylda simply lifted up her hand and Five pushed against it to jump down with the help of her tail. Once on his feet he spatial walked them into the center of the crater. Xylda whistled at the size of it, “Remind me not to piss Vanya off.”

“Just as long as you return the favor.” said Xylda. 

“Deal. Okay, let’s split up. Stick close to the crater and yell if you find her.” No hearing an answer Five faced Xylda and froze.

Her head was tilted back towards the sky with her eyes closed and he watched as her body shifted. She was wearing a dark short sleeved shirt tucked into a mini skirt that buttoned in the front, had two big pockets on the front and a black belt; the whole thing allowed him to admire her smooth skin, but now… The sun glinted off of the scales of her tail and arms, her pale grey skin was illuminated against the fractured lines of black across her flesh, looking less ghoulish in the bright sun. Five felt his breath catch at the peaceful look on her face.

“Say what you want about Texas, but the sun definitely feels better here.” she sighed out. Opening her eyes she turned her head to look at him and saw the awed look on his face, she smiled, “What?” Five didn’t say anything; he just stepped forward and pulled her into a kiss. It was a soft kiss, but full of something intense that made her heart beat faster. When he pulled back she chuckled, “What was that for?”

He shook his head, “It’s just… Nice to see you so happy. Considering everything that’s happening.”

“What can I say, you just seem to have that effect on me.” she said happily, “Is that so bad?”

“No, not at all.” he said with a smile, “I don’t deserve you.”

“Yes, you do.” she said, “After everything you’ve been through you deserve to be happy. Do I make you happy?”

“More than you can ever imagine.” he said honestly.

“Good. Because you make me happy too.” she kissed him quickly, “Now let’s find our sister. I’ll go this way.” She pointed one way.

“Okay. If you run into the Swedes, give ‘em hell and save some for me.”

“No promises.” she winked at him and took off.

**Quick Squick**

Neither of them ran into the Swedes which disappointed Xylda. She wanted to take them on again for attacking Diego and Vanya and Killing Hazel, she may not have really known the man, but he had helped them. That was enough for her.

_ “I found her!” _ Shouted Five. Xylda ran back towards the crater, she emerged just as Vanya and Five did.

“Vanya!” She shouted excitedly and rushed over to scoop her sister up into a hug. Vanya hesitated before returning the hug.

“She doesn’t remember who we are Xylda.” said Five.

Xylda frowned and let go of Vanya who gave her a curious look, “Um, what are you?”

“I’m your sister. My name’s Xylda and in case he didn’t introduce himself that’s Number Five. We’re your siblings.” Explained Xylda letting her shift fade.

Vanya smiled, “I can’t believe I have a sister.”

“You have two actually.” said Five, “And as much as this reunion is melting my heart we need to go before the Thor rejects find us.”

Vanya looked at the crater in shock, “Shit.”

Five smiled and admired it, “Yeah, pretty wild, right? It’s good to see your powers are still intact. Let’s go.” Xylda held Vanya’s hand as they walked across the crater towards town.

**Quick Squick!**

Vanya had driven them into town and the three found themselves sitting at the counter of a diner, Vanya and Five ordered coffee’s, but Xylda planned on stealing sips from Five’s to lessen the amount he drank. Five smiled at the waitress as she poured his cup, “Leave the pot.” he said.

“Please.” added Xylda.

“Thank you.” said Five, but it didn’t appease the waitress.

“Lippy little shit.” grumbled the waitress as she walked away.

Xylda pinched Fives arm making him wince, “How is it you are in your fifties and yet you have no manners when it comes to people who aren’t me?”

“Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I have to be polite.” he said taking a sip.

“Are either of you going to tell me what the hell’s going on?” asked Vanya.

“When you were a baby, you were bought by an eccentric billionaire. He raised you in an elite academy with seven other siblings with extraordinary powers, but in the year 2019, in order to avoid the apocalypse, we jumped into a vortex and ended up being scattered throughout the timeline in Dallas, Texas. Any questions?” Xylda groaned at Five’s blunt explanation and pinched his arm again in reprimand.

“What do you mean, ‘the apocalypse’?” asked Vanya. The look on her face could only be described as confused shock.

“I mean the end of the world as we know it.” said Five.

“Yeah, but how?” 

Five’s brow furrowed, “You really don’t remember anything?” he asked.

“No, nothing before a month ago.”

“What do you remember?” asked Xylda.

“I landed in, like, a… back alley. Got hit by a car. My head was ringing like crazy. I had no idea how I got there, where I came from.” She looked at them with a frightened look. “What causes the apocalypse?”

Five hesitated to answer, “Asteroid impact. The big kaboom ends everything. Just like the one that got the dinosaurs, except way worse.” Xylda frowned at Five for leaving out Vanya’s involvement and Vanya caught it.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Xylda bit her lip, but Five spoke before she could say anything, “The bad news is that it followed us here.”

“What do you mean, ‘followed us’.”

“Eight days from now, the world ends in a nuclear Doomsday. It’s a different disease, but… same result.”

Vanya didn’t look convinced, “That can’t be right.”

“I saw it.” He gestured to Xylda, “We saw it. With our own eyes. You were there. We all were.” He muttered the last bit.

“Shit.”

“Vanya?” said Xylda worriedly seeing the anxiety growing on her sister’s face.

“I need to make a phone call.” she said getting up and over to the diners phone.

“Vanya.” called Five, but he let her go. He sighed and turned back to his cup, “Ow!” Xylda had punched his arm this time.

“What the hell!” she hissed.

“What?” She gave him an angry look and he sighed, “We’re going to tell her the truth, but I’d rather not do it in a crowded diner.” He went to take another sip, but Xylda got to it first and drained it. He pouted, “You could have gotten your own cup.” he whined as she handed him the empty cup.

“Considering how much caffeine you’ve consumed in such a short amount of time, be happy I’m only making you share and not forcing you to drink decaf.” Five stood up and picked up the caraf to refill his cup, “I’m surprised you were able to sleep.”

He shrugged, “It doesn’t do as much as you think it does.” He turned to watch Vanya talk to someone on the phone.

“Why can’t she remember?”

“She must have hit her head when she landed in the alley.” He reasoned, “And getting hit by a car probably didn’t help.”

Xylda sighed, “So we’ve found Diego, Luther and Vanya. All that's left is Klaus and Allison."

"And we only have a few more days to find them before we run out of time or the Swedes find them and kill them." Five drained his cup, put it on the counter and went to Vanya.

He pushed down the receiver putting an abrupt end to her call, "What the hell?" Demanded Vanya in outrage.

"We don't have time for this." Said Five unfazed by her anger.

"That's my friend you just hung up on." 

Five grabbed her arms, "Listen to me. Those people from the field are coming after us. They are never going to stop. Do you understand me?"

"We need to stick together, Vanya." Said Xylda joining them, "And figure out how to stop this Doomsday."

"Whoever this person is, they can't be more important than the end of the world." Xylda thought that was a little harsh but it worked and Vanya hung up the phone.

"Thank you." Said Xylda, knowing Five wouldn't. 

"So… what now?"

"Now… we go see if Luther's changed his mind." His brow furrowed, "We'll need to find out where he's staying first."

"I know." Said Vanya surprising them.

"You've met Luther?" Asked Xylda.

"Yeah. He came to visit me at the farm where I work. I take care of Sissy's son Harlan." She patted her pockets, "He gave me the address of where he's staying so I could find him if I wanted to talk." She pulled out a piece of paper, "Here." Five took the slip.

"'The Plano Street Rooming House For Solitary Men.'" he read, "Well that sounds about right."

"He might already be at work." 

"Yeah, but working for a gangster, he could be anywhere in Dallas right now." 

"Gangster?" Asked Vanya.

"Yeah, I know, surprised us too." Said Xylda, "Luther walking in the more grey shades of the world is something none of us saw coming."

"We should still try where he's staying first, they might know where he is. Then we'll try his bosses club."

"Sounds like a plan." Said Vanya.

"It sounds like we're going to be doing a lot of walking today. Hope you wore comfortable shoes sis." 

Vanya looked down at Xylda's shoes, "I'd be more concerned about your shoes."

Xylda chuckled, "They don't look it, but these are like clouds. And I don't have to worry about them falling off. I mean seriously what is with the 60's and slip on flats." Vanya laughed at the full body shudder she did.

"If you ladies are done discussing fashion we have a sibling to locate." 

Xylda rolled her eyes, "You're one to talk. You've been complaining about your clothes since we got here."

He looked down at his clothes, he was sporting a white dress shirt, black tie, blue cardigan and dark shorts. He almost looked like he was wearing their old academy uniform, "I don't know. I think they're growing on me."

"Yeah, like a fungus." She snarked, "I'm not saying you don't look good, but you could go for a more relaxed look. I rather liked you in jeans. You've got a nice ass." A woman at a nearby table gasped at her use of profanity, but Xylda just turned to her and stuck her tongue out. Once again thankful that her sunglasses sat firmly on her face. 

He smirked, "And here I thought you loved me for my mind and not my body."

"Oh, I do. The body's just a bonus."

Vanya looked back and forth between the two with a smile, "I guess having adorable younger siblings is a happy surprise."

The two snorted, "Hate to break it to you did, but you and I are the same age…"

"Technically you're a month older now, Vanya. So that would make you the youngest of us, dear." Commented Five.

"... And Five's technically the eldest now." She finished, and leaned over to whisper to Vanya as they exited the diner, Five holding the door open for both of them, "He's 58 years old. That's why he's so surely, all the time now."

"I heard that."

"Don't strain yourself, my love. Wouldn't want you to injure yourself." She teased, making Vanya giggle.

"You know I could leave you two to walk the whole way." He threatened.

Xylda rolled her eyes, "No you won't." She winked at Vanya and went to his right side and looped her arm through his. "Because then you'd miss out on having a nice stroll with me and our beautiful sister." She laid her head on his shoulder and snuggled into his side. 

Five chuckled at her action, "I guess you're right."

Xylda held out her hand behind her for Vanya, who happily took it and let Xylda swing their arms back and forth. "Who says you can't enjoy the end of the world."

**Time Jump!**

The three siblings ended up at the gambling den set up outside the city. Xylda pulled Vanya to be between herself and Five seeing the looks of some of the, clearly blitzed out of their minds, men. Five must have noticed it too because he didn't protest when Vanya grabbed his arm. They pushed their way to the front of the rowdy crowd, the landlord of the Rooming House said that Luther would be boxing for Mr. Ruby tonight, and low and behold there was Luther pretending to fight an almost equally large man.

"Talk about an unfair fight." Mused Xylda. "Our brother has super strength. He could survive a bomb blast." She whispered to Vanya.

Vanya's brow scrunched in confusion watching Luther 'fight', "Then why is he boxing? Couldn't he kill the other guy."

Five shook his head, "It's a fixed fight. Luther needs to make it look like he could lose to make the gamblers bet against him, so when he knocks this guy out with one punch his boss will make more money." He explained, "I gotta admit Luther's the perfect fighter for it."

They leaned against the wooden railing to watch Luther receive a subtle nod from Mr. Ruby. Luther's back straightened and he sucked under his opponents swing to land three of his own, pushing the guy to the other side of the ring. But then Luther's body language changed again, he stood completely still in the ring.

"Something's wrong." Said Xylda, moving to circle the ring to get a better look at Luther. Five and Vanya followed her. 

Luther took a hit, but didn't budge much to his opponents shock, so more hits were thrown, but Luther just stood there. "Look, he's pummeling him.."

"Hit me again."

"What the hell is he doing?" Hissed Xylda.

"What?" Asked Five as the man grabbed Luther's head and threw him.towards the three. Luther impacted solidly with the wall. "Why isn't he fighting back?" 

"He's begging the guy to hit him." Explained Xylda listening to Luther telling the man he wanted to feel pain.

"Oh, my god, Luther." 

"Again! Hit me!" Shouted Luther.

"Luther, are you crazy?! Just hit him!" Shouted Five.

"Give me everything you've got!" Unfortunately that's exactly what he got. With one uppercut Luther was lifted off the ground to land on his back.

"Shit." Said Five in shock.

"That's it." Hissed Xylda, Five grabbed her before she could get over the railing.

"No! Xylda."

"Five let me go! No one does that to my brother and gets away with it!"

"He asked for it." He argued, his arms firmly wrapped around her struggling form. She wouldn't risk hurting him to break the hold.

"Doesn't matter!"

"Why didn't he fight back?" Asked Vanya staring at Luther's prone form with a scared frown, "I mean, why would he want to feel pain?"

"I don't know, but when I'm done with him he'll wish he hadn't." Growled Xylda.

"People are starting to stare dear." Warned Five, he glared at a few of the men and they turned away with shivers.

"Who gives a fuck?" She groused.

Five groaned, "Will you just quit it! We have to go make sure he's still breathing."

Xylda stopped her struggling and scoffed, "If that killed him then he's more out of shape then I thought."

"People are leaving." Stated Vanya, "Come on." Vanya climbed over the ring wall to get to Luther, shocking, Five and Xylda. They shared a look before Five let go of her and they too climbed the wooden wall to join Vanya and Luther.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing! There's no kids allowed in here!" Yelled some guy walking into the ring. Rolling her eyes Xylda faced the man, pulled her shades down enough to reveal her eyes and let her face shift to hiss at the man. "Woah!" He stumbled back, his eyes wide in fright.

"I'd leave if I were you. She's not in the best of moods." Advised Five. The man scurried away and the two returned their attention to Luther. 

Vanya was gently checking him over, his face was in bad shape, "He doesn't look so good."

"He'll be fine. Xylda can fix him." Waved off Five.

"Oh, no she won't." She denied crossing her arms, "He wanted pain and now he's got it. What kind of sister would I be if I took that away from him?"

Five sighed, "Well, will you help get him back to the Rooming House? I don't think he'd appreciate being left on this funky floor."

"Let's get him to the car."

"She's married." Mumbled Luther.

Vanya frowned, "Whose married?"

He licked his lips and stared up at the moon, "Allison. She married someone else… again."

Xylda groaned, "Well that explains the sudden masochism." Said Five.

"At least he found, Allison." Muttered Xylda. "That's one less thing for us to do." Five nodded.

"Our sister marrying someone, made him want to hurt himself?" Asked Vanya incredulously.

"He's hopelessly in love with her, but neither of them have ever had the courage to act on those feelings. Unlike Xylda and I." Explained Five giving Luther a pity filled look, "You think I'd have ended up like him if we did the same thing?"

Xylda snorted, "No. You're way too arrogant. And if I had been hesitant you would have made an elaborate plan to woo me and make me think that it was all my idea."

Five pursed his lips and nodded his head, "Hmm. Good point."

"What are you two talking about? Aren't we all siblings?"

"Not by blood." Said Five, "Now come on. We need to get him out of here before he starts crying, like the big sensitive lug he is." It took some doing but the three managed to get Luther on his feet, though that most likely had to do with the fact that he wasn't unconscious, just despondent. "Grab a hold and take a deep breath Vanya, this might be a little jarring." Not really understanding, she did as she was asked, grabbing a hold of Xylda and taking a deep breath. The three then blinked out of the boxing ring.

**End of Chapter 3**


	4. "The Majestic Twelve"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Not really understanding, she did as she was asked, grabbing a hold of Xylda and taking a deep breath. The three then blinked out of the boxing ring.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. I also want to remind everyone reading this, that while Five and Xylda may look thirteen they are actually 58 and 30 respectively.

**“The Majestic 12”**

Five waited outside with the station wagon and left Luther in the care of Xylda and Vanya. As she cleaned Luther up Vanya asked Xylda questions about their childhood and family; Xylda told her about everyone’s powers, Pogo, Mom and the purpose of the Umbrella Academy. Vanya noticed how she tended to gloss over their dad.

“He… wasn’t a good dad… was he?” asked Vanya.

Xylda snorted, “That is a gross understatement. Do you want to know what he did when he discovered he couldn’t teach you how to control your powers?” Vanya nodded, “He had Allison make us all forget you had powers, including yourself, used drugs to keep you emotionally numb and constantly made you feel like you were less than us because you ‘didn’t have any powers’.” She made finger quotes for the last bit.

“Why would he do that?”

“He was afraid of you, Vanya. Plain and simple. He couldn’t figure your powers out which meant that he had no power of you and for a man who was all about being in control that was terrifying for him.” She caressed Vanya’s face, “But you know what?”

“What?”

“Even after everything he put you through, you came out on top.” She smiled at Vanya’s confused look, “You made a life for yourself. You moved out, got a job, your own apartment and you did it all without his help. Klaus was in and out of rehab, Diego was running around playing vigilante, Allison’s abuse of her powers was making her life crumble and Luther spent four years on the moon.”

“What about you and Five?”

Xylda sighed and took a seat on a chair facing Vanya who was seated on the edge of the bed, “Well, as you can imagine, looking like a post pubescent teen made getting a job less than easy. I drifted for a couple of years, selling my skills for the right price, before eventually returning home and becoming a Bail Enforcement Agent. A Bounty Hunter.” she explained. “And Five got stuck in a post apocalyptic future and ended up being recruited to be a hitman, by a time traveling agency.”

Vanya licked her lips, “You said I had a job.” she said, glossing over Fives… past? “What did I do?”

Xylda smiled, “You were a violinist for the city orchestra.”

“I was a musician?” asked Vanya in wonder.

Xylda nodded, “Yeah. You are incredibly talented Vanya. When we were kids you would practice for hours every day until you felt you had gotten a melody right. And just before the end of the world you had gotten first chair. The First Cair is the lead violinist of an orchestra and it is a very hard and coveted title.” Xylda took her hands and ran her finger tips over her palms, “You see these callouses? These are from playing the violin.” Vanya smiled and touched the palm of her left hand, “I think it’s very fitting that your powers revolve around sound. I wonder if you’d remember how to play if we got you a violin.”

“I guess I’ll just have to try and see.” Luther groaned, catching the sister’s attention. “Luther?” Vanya picked up a small clean towel.

“Allison?” he asked weakly making Xylda roll her eyes.

Vanya smiled sadly when he opened his eyes as much as he could with all the swelling to see them, “Sorry to disappoint.” She held out the towel, “Here. For your face.” Luther slowly reached for it, “Do you need a pillow or… an… an aspirin.”

“Wait...a… why are you here, Vanya?” he asked.

“You’re my brother.” said Vanya simply, as if that was enough for her.

“Be grateful we didn’t leave you to wallow in your self pity on the funky floor of that ring.”

Luther sighed, “I see you’ve met Five and Xylda.”

“Yeah. He’s down stairs waiting with the car.” said Vanya, “Said you’d be better off alone.”

“Then why is she here?” he demanded glaring at Xylda.

“Well, since you don’t care if the world burns. I’m here to get Allison’s address from you so that we can go talk to her and see if she’s willing to help save the world again.”

Luther scoffed, “Doubtful, considering she’s married now.”

“To someone that’s not you, yeah we know.” she said, “You were practically bawling your eyes out after you let that guy wail on you.”

“I was not.” he denied.

“Keep telling yourself that.” she sighed, “Five and I will be out of your hair after you give me the address. Unless you’d rather Five come up here and demand to know what’s taking so long?”

Luther groaned and lifted himself up to sit on the bed, placing his feet on the floor, “Yeah, well. He’s an asshole.”

“Such an asshole.” agreed Vanya.

Luther chuckled, “Right?” He looked to Xylda, who didn’t say anything, “What? Not gonna defend him?”

She shrugged, “Why? You’re not wrong. Just because I love him doesn’t mean I’m blind to his faults. I haven’t put him on a pedestal like you did with Allison.”

“I haven--”

“Yes, you have Luther and it’s sad.”

Luthe clenched his jaw and turned his attention to Vanya, “How much have they told you?”

“Um, well, they filled in some gaps. Uh, eight children, a talking chimpanzee…”

He nodded, “Yeah.” 

“... a very warm and cuddly father.”

“Mhmm.” He sighed.

“An apocalypse.”

Luther met Xylda’s eyes, “You told her about that.”

“Not all of it.”

“I figured as much.” said Vanya, she looked to Luther, “What caused the apocalypse?”

He looked to Xylda who nodded before facing Vanya, “You did.”

Vanya sucked in a breath and looked down at the floor slowly, “But it wasn’t your fault.”

Luther shook his head, “No, no, no, no. It was an accident.” he assured her, “We were attacked and you were defending yourself, but… You lost control and… blew up the moon. The debris slammed into earth, wiping out everything.”

“I blew up the moon?” she said in shock.

All three jumped when the door was slammed open and Jack Ruby stormed in his face like thunder, “Why the hell did you throw the fight?!” he shouted, stomping over to Luther.

Luther rose to greet him, “Jack.”

“Answer me!” Xylda pulled Vanya away from the angry man and placed her by the door.

“Sorry… I had a bad night.” defended Luther as Jack backed him up against the wall.

That excuse just pissed the man off further, “Bad night, you son of a bitch? You could have taken that chump’s head off in his sleep!” He grabbed Luther and pushed him into the wall, “I owe a lot of money right now, Luther, to people who can make things  _ very hard _ on me!”

“Leave him alone!” shouted Vanya, but Xylda kept a firm hold of her to keep her from physically interfering.

“Shut up and mind your business!” ordered Jack. 

Xylda growled at the man and seeing the potential for chaos Luther tried to calm the man don, “Jack, look… I’m sorry. All right? I’m gonna make it up to you, I promise. Okay?”

Jack was panting heavily and shook his head, “I treated you… like a son.”

Luther wasn’t moved, “Jack, come on.”

“No.” Jack shook his head harder, “You and me… we’re done.” He let go off Luther and started to walk out.

“Jack, please.” tried Luther, but Jack kept walking, “Jack! Jack!” He slammed the door shut behind him.

“Luther?” asked Vanya.

Luther’s voice was shaky, “Would you two, uh, … just get out, please?”

“Well, I don’t mind staying, and I have some more questions.” tried Vanya.

In a fit of anger Luther cried out and slammed his arm into the brick wall, effectively breaking some bricks and creating a whole. Xylda scoffed at the act of aggression, “Before you have your hissy fit, I need Allison’s address.”

Luther glared at her and spat out, “75 Ellis Street. Now get out!”

“Come on Vanya.” Xylda took Vanya’s hand and sending one last sad look to Luther Vanya followed her out of the apartment and outside to Five and the station wagon.

Five met them outside of the door, “Well, that clearly went well.” He said sarcastically, “You ready to go?”

Vanya stomped past him, “I’m going back to the farm.” she declared.

Five frowned and jogged after her, “Hey. Unacceptable, Vanya. Remember we need to stick together.”

“Yeah, well considering I’m powerful enough to blew up the moon I think I’ll be okay on my own.” Five winced, “Were you even gonna tell me?”

“You know what?” he clasped his hands tightly behind his back in irritation, “In my defense, no. All right? And can you blame me? When you… you get angry or scared, shit blows up.”

“Oh, like you’re so stable.” snarked Xylda.

“Shush.” hissed Five as Xylda giggled and leaned against the car.

“Great. Are there any other family secrets you failed to mention?” she demanded as she car in the driver’s seat.

“A boatload, Vanya, which I don’t have the luxury of sharing them with the--” Five took a deep breath and knocked on the window. Reluctantly Vanya rolled the window down, “The clock is ticking on Doomsday.” Vanya wasn’t moved so Five sighed and bowed his head in resignation, “Just tell me that when I need you, you’ll be ready.”

Vanya frowned, “I can’t help you, Five. I’m sorry Xylda. I don’t even know who I am.”

“You’re our sister.” said Five desperately as Vanya started the engine, “And a member of the Umbrella Academy. Like it or not, that’s who you are.”

“That’s who I was, okay?” she refuted, “New timeline, new me.” She stepped on the gas and Five stepped back from the car.

“No, that’s not how it work--” He trailed off and sighed in anger. Looking up at Luther’s building they saw their brother looking down at them. He smiled smugly and gave them the bird.

Five sneered at Luther and put his hands in his pockets as he turned to walk away, “Wonder if it’s too late to be un-adopted.”

“Unfortunately.” said Xylda, coming up to walk by his side. “The good news is I got Allison’s address. 75 Ellis Street. So how about we swing by and meet our new brother-in-law.”

Five’s shoulders slumped, “Why does it always fall to me to get their heads out of their asses to save the world?”

“Because you care about what happens to the world.” she said softly. She tried looping her arm through his right, but he moved her to his other side so that he would be on the side of traffic. Xylda smiled at the gesture and looping their arms together she snuggled into his side and laid her head on his shoulder. “You saw what an awful, desolate, place the world can be without humanity. Even after seeing the worst humanity had to offer, while working for the Commission, you still think we’re worth saving. You want to watch humanity grow, change and just maybe become better in the process.” When he snorted she lifted her head to look at him, “You may be cold and harsh on the outside Five, but you are the most caring, strong willed and passionate person I have ever met. You wouldn’t be going to all this effort to save us if you weren’t. Even after surviving alone for so long and what the Commission did to you, you never lost those pieces of yourself. And I am so thankful for that.” She kissed his cheek.

Five covered her hand on his arm with his, “You know the Commission kept trying to assign me a partner.” He said suddenly, “Field Agents are supposed to work in pairs to ensure that if one dies an assignment will still be completed.”

“And I’m sure you were all for being a team player.” she said sarcastically.

He chuckled, “They thought that after being by myself for so many years it would be beneficial for my mental health to have someone real to talk too.”

“Sounds like a good idea, but let me guess. You kept driving them away so that none of them would realize what you were up too?”

“No.” Xylda gave him a shocked look, “I could have easily kept my intentions of stopping the apocalypse from a partner.”

“So why didn’t you want one?”

“It didn’t feel right, to try and replace you.” Xylda brought them to a stop and looked at him with a shocked look. He caressed her cheek with his right hand, “You’ve always been my partner, Xylda. Nothing will ever change that. You watch my back and I watch yours, that’s how it’s always going to be.”

She smiled sweetly, “You were right.” He tilted his head, “You really are a romantic.”

“Come on. We need to get some formal attire?” He said, resuming their walk.

She quirked an eyebrow, “And where are we going that requires us to wear formal attire?”

“A gala.”

**Time Jump!**

After getting some clothes Xylda and Five went back to Elliott’s to explain the plan to Diego. Xylda had snagged a dress and shoes for Lila, if she really was keeping an eye on them for the Commission then it would be best to keep her close. Xylda had to keep herself from clawing the woman’s eyes out when she caught their mixed scents and learned that they had sex while she and Five were gone. She hated how the woman was manipulating Diego, her poor brother wore a tough guy persona and his heart on his sleeve, so he was easily manipulated if you knew what to say and how to act. Lila had observed Diego in the sanitarium and tailored her approach perfectly, she almost respected it… almost. She let Five know and he was equally angry at Lila’s gual, Diego would be heartbroken when her betrayal finally came to light.

Lila and Diego were seated on the couch eating snacks Lila had scrounged up from Elliott’s sparse kitchen. Five had just finished relaying how they had found Vanya in a field after she had been attacked by the Swedes, learned she had lost her memory, watching Luther let someone beat the crap out of him and Vanya deciding not to help them.

“So what you just let her go?” asked Diego incredulously.

“Well, Vanya had a lot to process, considering she lost her memories it’s a miracle she listened to us at all.” said Xylda.

Five sighed, “She’ll come around. I know she will.”

“What about the guys who went after her?”

“The Swedes?”

“Yeah, I mean, how do you know they won’t go after her again?”

“We don’t.”

“Mm, any idea who sent them?” asked Lila, taking a sip from the cup Elliott had given her.

“Oh, I have my suspicions.” said Five smiling at Lila, “But right now, our priority is finding dad and getting answers, ‘cause everything else depends on it.”

“Which, for the record, I found him already.”

“And then let him go before we could have a meaningful conversation.”

“He stabbed me. Xylda’s the one who let him get away.” pointed out Diego.

“Only because she had to heal your dumbass. And I’m surprised he waited this long, Diego. We’ve all had the urge.”

Elliott and Lila laughed at Five’s jab, “Good one.” Praised Lila holding up a hand for a high five. Five didn’t return it and it only cemented his suspicions about her working for the Commission, the high five didn’t become popularized until the late 70’s.

“Good thing I know where Dad’s gonna be tonight.” He took out the invitation and handed it to Diego.

“Where’d you get this?’ asked Diego as he began to read it.

“Found it at his office while he was busy stabbing you.” Diego chuckled sarcastically in response.

“‘Hoyt Hillenkoetter and the Consulate General of Mexico in Dallas cordially invite you to a gala.’” He read.

“Woah, wait.” said Elliott getting everyone’s attention, “Hoyt Hillenkoetter? Are you serious?”

“You know him?” asked Xylda.

Lila gasped, “We should go.” she and Diego shared a look, “It says there’s going to be a seafood tower.”

“No, Hillenkoetter is… is one of the Majestic Twelve.”

“The hell is the Majestic Twelve?” asked Diego, shocking Elliott.

“What? It’s a… a secret committee.” He put down his cup and went to his desk to rifle through some documents, “Uh, scientists, military, uh, deep state. No one knows what they really do.”

“Wait, so they’re government?” asked Diego, sitting up.

“ _ Shadow _ government.” corrected Elliott, “Yeah, Kennedy eas the first president to try and push ‘em into the light, but these guys are not to be trifled with. Oh… “ He found what he was looking for and brought it over to them, “Oh, here we go. Ah, right here.” He placed a picture on the coffee table and they all leaned over to see a bunch of old men sitting around a table, “That’s Hoyt right there.” He pointed out one of the men.

“I only count 11.” said Lila.

“Well, that’s because they’ve only identified 11 so far.”

“Who’s the twelfth?”

“He’s probably the one taking the picture.” suggested Xylda, “It’s a great way to stay out of the light.” Five and Diego shared a look, “Anyway, we need to blend in t the Consulate so Five and I made a quick stop on our way back here.” She held up a few bags and Lila popped off the couch with a smile.

“Ooh!” She cooed going over to inspect the bags, “Which ones mine?”

“This one.” Xylda held up a bag and Lila grabbed it greedily, “Don’t get too excited. I didn’t want to cost the shop owner we stole them from too much money, so they aren’t very high end.”

“They don’t need to be.” said Diego, “They just need to help us go unnoticed long enough to find Dad.”

“C’mon! Let’s go try these on!” Lila grabbed Xylda’s hand intent on dragging her into a room to change, but she yanked her hand away and hissed at the woman.

Diego winced, “Yeah, not a good idea to yank her around.” He got up to get between the two women, “Which one’s mine?” Xylda wordlessly handed him the correct bag, “She’s never been one for girl time, even when we were kids.” He told Lila taking her hand, “C’mon. You can help make sure I don’t look like a homeless man.”

Lila snorted, “It’s a little late for that, don’t you think.” The two disappeared into a room with their bags.

“Was the hissing necessary?” asked Five in exasperation.

“I don’t like her. She’s manipulating our brother and she’s going to break his heart. You know how soft hearted he is.”

“I know.” he said softly, “But hopefully we can nip this in the bud before he falls too far.”

They claimed another room and began to get ready. Xylda had snagged a dark purple, flare skirt, rockabilly, halter dress and black heels, while Five had found dark slacks and a matching blazer to pair with the dress shirt and tie he was already wearing. Xylda split her weapons with him, she wanted him to take one item in particular, “Here.” she held up her right hidden blade cuff, “You should wear this, your sleeve will hide it.” She took his left wrist and fastened it to his wrist.

He smiled at her, “Is this your way of proposing to me?”

“You’re not getting out of proposing to me that easily.” she winked at him, “Now, do you want the garot or the push knife?” she asked, holding up both weapons.

He chuckled and took the push knife, “You know normally when couples help each other get dressed there are no weapons involved.”

“Sounds boring.” She mused, “Come here for a second and reach into my pocket.” He quirked an eyebrow but did as she asked. He was surprised when his fingers felt bare skin, “Can you feel my thigh holster or do I need to move it?”

He smirked and moved to stand behind her as his hand drifted up the inside of her thigh, “Definitely higher.” he said, his hand ghosting over her clothed center, making her gasp. “How long has it been?” he whispered.

“Too long.” she gasped out as he palmed her roughly. She turned her head to nip at his cheek as he mouthed at her shoulder. She hummed and pushed into his hand as his free hand pushed at her stomach, her left hand clawed at her covered thigh as her right fisted in his hair and yanked him up so that she could kiss him. Five quickly began to devour her mouth as his hand dipped into her panties, she giggled, “Behave. I don’t want to wear mismatching underwear, it irks me.”

“I’ll clean you up.” he murmured.

“Hmm. As tempting as that offer… is…” Five transferred his lips from her shoulder to her neck, “Ah…” He pinched her clit making her knees buckle a little, “... Now you’re not playing fair… ah…”

“All’s fair in love and war.” he said, before removing his hand from her skirt and maneuvering her to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Five?”

“Shh.” He dropped down onto one knee and slowly lifted her skirt up her legs. He nipped at the revealed skin and she sighed at the attention, tipping her head back and closing her eyes. Her left hand steadied her on the bed and her right combed through his hair, scratching at his scalp making him groan. She widened her legs to accommodate him as he reached her center and fisted his hair when he licked a strip up the lips of her center. 

“You don’t have to--”

“Just a little something to tide me over until we get back tonight.”

“Then should-- Ah…” He sucked at her through her underwear, the sensation surprising her, “... Shouldn’t I be… the one on… my knees?” She panted. He groaned and rested his head on her thigh, she smiled down at him, “Like that idea, huh?”

“Is that an offer?”

“Always.” She licked her lips, and Five surged up to kiss her. Now he was on both of his knees between her legs, one hand on top of hers on the bed and the other holding the base of her skull.

That’s the scene Diego walked in on suddenly, “Ah!” He shouted, one hand flinging up to cover his eyes. Lila looked over his shoulder and smirked, “I did not need to ever see this.” He said.

“Diego…” growled Xylda.

Five smirked and placed his hands on her bare thighs, “Now, now, dear. No need to skin him just yet.” He faced Diego, “What do you want? It must be important if you didn’t feel the need to knock.”

“We wanted to see if the two of you were ready to go.” Her smirk widened, “But I guess we’ve got our answer.”

“Uh! I can’t do this. Just… finish getting dressed and meet us downstairs. Ugh! I’m gonna have nightmares for a week.” Diego shuddered and left the doorway. Lila snickered and shut the door after giving the two a thumbs up.

“Ugh.” Groaned Xylda covering her face with her hands and flopping back onto the bed.

“What?” asked Five.

She looked up at his unfazed face and glared, “You have no shame.”

“What’s there to be ashamed of?” he asked, “He knows we’re a couple, last I checked couples have sex and foreplay is an important part of sex.”

She snorted, “Yeah well, there are some people who don’t agree with that particular opinion.”

“And that’s why those people have no sex life.” He said simply making her laugh. He crawled up to her and kissed the valley between her breasts, “C’mon. Let’s finish getting ready and head out.”

She caressed his cheek, “ _ Cum doriți. _ ” she whispered in Romanian.

He smiled and whispered back, “ _ Si eu te iubesc draga.” _

She giggled, “ _ Ești un drăguț.” _

“Whatever you say Buttercup.”

**Time Jump!**

The four observed the bustling Consulate from behind a small border wall. People were arriving steadily and cars were parked, there were a few armed guards, but they weren’t facing them so seeing an opportunity Diego led the way. He hopped the little wall, with Lila and Five following and Xylda bringing up the rear.

They ducked down behind a silver car, “So what’s the plan?” asked Lila.

“We infiltrate, we identify, we extract. Double time.” He said, Lila put on a confused look.

Lila turned to face Five and whispered, “What the hell’s he talking about?”

“Find the old man and get out fast.” he explained.

“That’s what I said. On me.” peeking around the edge of the car, Diego waited for an opening before darting across the open space to the next car.

Lila looked at Five, “After you.” Seeing his angry look she frowned, “What, I can’t be polite?”

“Cut the crap.” said Five, “All right? My dimwitted brother might buy your bullshit, but I don’t trust you for a second.”

“Ditto.”

Lila smirked, “O ye of little faith.”

“Stick it up your ass.” said Xylda. Lila’s smile widened before turning around and following after Diego. The four repeated the action of moving between cars until they reached the Consulate, circling round they found the back patio and entered from there.

Slow mariachi music played in the background as people moved about the first floor. Five snagged two flutes from a passing waiter and handed one to Xylda, Lila followed his example and grabbed herself a glass.

Diego looked around, “I don’t see dad anywhere.”

“Just keep an eye out for the Majestic Twelve.” said Five, “We’ve got the upstairs. Diego… try not to do anything too stupid.” Lila chuckled as the couple walked away towards some stairs.

“Are you splitting us up so that we can find Dad faster or are you trying to avoid dancing with me?” she teased as they went up the stairs.

“There will be plenty of time for dancing later. If you think you can keep up with me.”

She smirked, “I’ll have you know I’ve improved by leaps and bounds since the last time we danced.”

“I should hope so… considering we were seven at the time.” Five stopped when Xylda tensed. He listened closely and could hear the sound of men murmuring. Looking around the corner of the stairwell, Five spotted a few men turning a corner, “C’mon.” he whispered and the two crept down the hall.

When the last man entered a room and closed the door, the two entered a deserted hallway. Five hesitated a little, so Xylda touched his arm, “You can do this. His face may be familiar, but he’s not  _ our _ dad yet.” He nodded, “Go. I’ll keep watch out here.” 

Nodding again Five kissed her cheek, “Keep your head on a swivel.”

“You too.” He handed her his glass before disappearing. She downed both his and hers, and set the glasses on a side table.

She crept up and down the hallway, to kill time and get a basic layout of the small space, which is when she spotted him down the hall. It was the biggest of the three Swedes, she smirked when she saw the state of the arm she had bitten. It was dark and sickly looking, almost like it was rotting from the inside out, “I’m surprised it hasn’t spread further.” The man grunted and narrowed his eyes at her. “I take it you’re here for a rematch?” he didn’t say anything and stomped down the hall towards her. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

She kicked off her heels and met him halfway. Leaping up she slammed her heels into his sternum knocking him back and off his feet with the force, snarling she slashed his throat as they hit the ground. To her shock he just grunted, lifted up his foot to her sternum and shoved her off. The strength shoved her a good distance down the hall and she skidded to a stop in a crouch.  _ Augmented. _ She thought seeing how slowly he was bleeding as he got back on his feet, _ Well, that’s just great.  _ “Exsanguination it is then.” She muttered.

He growled and lumbered down the hall towards her, he swung an arm at her and she ducked. Grabbing the arm she slashed at his side and used his thigh as a stepping stool to swing onto his shoulders, quickly unsheathing her hidden blade she jammed it into his neck, “Ah!” He cried out.

Which is when Five appeared, his eyes widened at the sight, “Table!” he shouted.

Xylda quickly jumped off of the mans shoulders behind him landing on her hands and knees. Just in time for Five to slam into the man, Xylda grunted as his body tumbled over her, Five grabbed her arm and yanked her up. “What the hell are they doing here?”

“Maybe they’re here for the seafood tower.” she snarked.

They turned to face the large man as he got to his feet, “All right, partner. Just like old times.” Smiling Xylda crouched down and let herself transform, and Five moved to be behind her.

“He’s augmented, but I’m guessing he’ll pass out if he loses enough blood.” Five nodded and pulled out his push knife. “Now!” Five jumped forward and used Xyldas back to launch himself at the giant. Prepared this time, the man caught Five by the neck, but he jammed the blade into his arm as Xylda rolled between his legs and swiped at his back.

“Ah!” He released Five who immediately jammed the knife into the mans thigh making him drop to his knees.

Having heard the commotion Diego came up the stairs, "Five. Xyda…” he said, seeing his siblings fighting one of the Swedes, before he could enter the fray a piece of fabric wrapped around his throat and yanked him back. He gasped and clawed at the fabric.

Xylda quickly wrapped herself around him, trapping his arms at his sides as Five grabbed his face intending on snapping his neck. He grunted at the effort, “Shit.” The thick neck wouldn't budge. 

"Ah!" The man used what little room he had to grab one of Xylda's wrists and break it. And with her grip weaker broke her hold and grabbed Five to slam him into the wall. Snarling Xylda wrapped her tail around his throat and squeezed until she heard a crunch.

Five shot forward and shoved his knife into the man's heart as he gasped for breath. The tip of Xylda's tail pierced the man's eye causing a spurt of blood to hit Fives cheat, but he didn't seem to care. He yanked his blade out of the man and Xylda did the same, unwrapping her tail the man slumped to the ground one last time.

"No!" 

Xylda turned at the angry shout and saw one Swede strangling a struggling Diego and another staring at them with a thunderous expression.

"Guess he's not too happy we killed their brother." Mused Five.

"Guess not."

The man charged at them in a blind fury as Lila reached the top of the stairs. Seeing her Diego gasped out, "Lila! Help me." Lila moved to help him, but hearing the sounds of another fight turned to see Five and Xylda engaging the other brother. She looked back and forth between the two completely torn. 

Diego frowned when Lila turned away from him and ran down the hall to help his siblings, grabbing his knife as she went. 

Xylda and Five were shocked when Lila pushed off the wall to brag the hanging lights to hit the other Swede then wrap her thighs firmly around his neck. When he turned, putting her back facing the window she flipped backwards with her legs still tightly wrapped around his neck to flip him forward.

She looked at the two from her kneeled position, "Your welcome." She said. 

Seeing the man getting up Five ran forward and threw him through the window. Xylda snarled at Lila and looked out the window, "Five!" She shouted and pointed out the window. Looking down Five saw their dad and then he looked down the hall where Diego was still fighting. Xylda turned to look and turned back to him, "I'll help Diego. You need to get to him." Five nodded and disappeared.

Xylda charged down the hall to help Diego. Snarling she tackled him at the knees and Diego gasped for breath as the grip on his neck fell away. He looked up to see Lila grab her heels and look at him briefly before going down the stairs. He growled in anger and grabbed the Swede off of his sister and punched him square in the face.

"Go find dad. I've got this guy." 

"You sure?" 

"Yes, now go!"

Xylda took one more swipe at the Swede slashing his chest before running for the stairs. She quickly shifted back to avoid being noticed and ducked her head to hide her eyes, since her sunglasses had been broken in the fight.

She raced outside and heard Give yelling in ancient Greek. She circled the building and ran to his side, "Were you quoting Homer?" She asked incredulously.

"I had to get his attention. It wasn't as effective as I'd thought it would be."

"Yeah, well how quick would you be to talk with some random kid who yells part of an epic poem in Ancient Greek?" She challenged.

"Touche."

Diego ran up along with Lila, "Was that him?" He asked, watching a car drive away.

"Yeah." Said Five. "You know,I'm starting to get the feeling Dad's avoiding us."

Lila sighed, "Hate to be the boring one, guys, but it's time we get the hell out of here." She started to walk off, but stopped in her tracks when Five started to speak.

"When you say 'we', who exactly are you referring to?" He demanded.

She scoffed, "Not a lot of ambiguity in that sentence." She said sarcastically.

"Listen, I don't know who you are or where you came from,but whatever it is, I'd advise you to return post haste."

"She's right, Five. We gotta get out of here."

"I just saved your life you kinder shit." She said angrily, "If I hadn't stepped in all that would be left of you two would be a blazer and some black heels."

"And that's the problem. You're too good. You ask too many questions, you know too much. And you fight like you know what you're doing."

"He's got a point." Said Diego. "I was having my ass handed to me back there, but you helped Five and Xylda, not me. Why?"

"Because they're kids and you're a man. Bloody act like one."

"Five and I didn't need your help, Diego did." She snarled. Her eyes glowing brightly in the dark light.

"Whoever you are, you're in my way." Said Five taking a step closer to Lila, Xylda moved to be at his back, "If I see you again, I will kill you."

Five walked past Lila with Xylda and Diego following. "Diego, I… I… we shouldn't--"

Diego stopped to turn to her, "You know what? I'm used to dealing with liars, Lila, but I like it better when I know what they're lying about."

Lila frowned as he walked away, "Oh, come on Diego, really? You're just gonna walk away? Diego."

**End of Chapter 4**


	5. "Valhalla"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Lila frowned as he walked away, "Oh, come on Diego, really? You're just gonna walk away? Diego."
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. I also want to remind everyone reading this, that while Five and Xylda may look thirteen they are actually 58 and 30 respectively. 

**“Valhalla”**

Returning to Elliot’s apartment the trio of siblings found Luther passed out on the couch and Elliot passed out on the floor. They covered Luther with a blanket and placed a pillow under Elliot’s head before going to bed themselves. Xylda stole the ruined shirt Five had worn when they first arrived in 1963 to sleep in, while Five just stripped down to his underwear and undershirt. Though their night was anything, but peaceful.

Luther and Diego were awakened by a muffled shout. Luther bolted straight up, causing him to fall off of the couch and Diego was up on his feet brandishing one of his knives. Hearing another muffled shout, Diego exited the room and met Luther in the hall, “Did you hear--”

_ “Ah!” _

“That?” asked Luther. Diego nodded and went to the closed door of Five and Xylda’s room. 

They stood on either side and Diego opened the door slowly and his eyes widened at what he saw, “What the…” he trailed off and looked at Luther before entering the room.

Xylda was sitting up against the headboard completely transformed with her tail wrapped around Five’s middle and his head in her lap. She was whispering to Five in Romanian,  _ “Shhh. Este bine, iubirea mea. Sunt aici, ești în siguranță.” _

Diego frowned at Five’s pain filled face and fruitless struggles against Xylda’s hold, “Xylda what the--”

“Shh!” she hissed, she looked back down at Five,  _ “Fii calm și doarme, iubirea mea. Te veghez. Mereu si intotdeauna.” _ Five finally started to settle and the pain melted from his face. 

“What the hell was that?” asked Luther quietly.

“A nightmare. Which is thankfully over so the two of you can go back to bed.” she explained quietly combing Five’s hair gently.

“Are you sure he’s alright?” asked Diego stepping closer to the bed to examine Five’s now calm face.

“No, but he’ll be fine for now.” she said sadly.

“He never said anything about nightmares.” said Luther.

She scoffed, “And when was he supposed to tell you? When he was trying to stop the apocalypse? When he was busy saving our lives? Or maybe when he asked for your help and you told him to fuck off?” She shook her head, “Besides it’s not any of your business, so just go back to bed.”

“How often do they happen?” asked Diego.

“It’s a roll of the dice. He could go a few days and sleep fine, but then he could just start lurching in his sleep muffling his own screams.” She frowned, “I think that’s why he drinks so much coffee. He’s trying to stay awake for as long as he can, so that when he finally passes out his mind’s too exhausted to dream.”

“Will he be okay?” asked Luther.

She shook his head, “No, after everything he’s been through he’ll never truly be okay, but it will get better. He just needs to get a break, so that he can take the time to heal. But that’s not going to happen until we stop the world from going to nuclear war and get back to 2019.”

“What has he been through?” asked Diego, sitting on the edge of the bed. “He hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with any of us.”

“Except you.” added Luther.

A few tears fell from her eyes, “So much.” Diego took one of her hands to comfort her, as Luther settled into a chair to listen. “And he did it all for us.”

“You mean you.” said Luther.

She narrowed her eyes at him, “For us. For his family.” she growled, “You have no idea what he endured for us at the hands of the Commission.”

“Then tell us.” said Diego.

She bit her lip, she didn’t think Five would like their siblings knowing the details of his time with the Commission, least of all Diego and Luther. But both were stubborn, like bulldogs, once they got their teeth into something it became near impossible to get them to let go. She sighed, “He was 58 years old when the Handler recruited him as a field agent for the Commission. Naturally even with his powers an old man isn’t the ideal candidate for a hitman, so they… made adjustments to make him more useful.”

Luther frowned at the implication and rubbed his chest, “What kind of adjustments?” asked Diego.

“They took him apart.” Her voice cracked in sorrow and she caressed his cheek, “Piece by piece and then put him back together according to their own blueprint. And he was awake for the whole thing… I mean… Can you imagine that? How painful that must have been?” She looked up at her brothers with tear stained cheeks, “And he endured it all. The pain, the killing and the guilt… just to get back to us and try and save the world.” She wiped her eyes, “He said… he said that the only thing that got him through it all was knowing that he could get back to us. In those 45 years alone he never doubted that he would find the way to get back to us. So he survived… I know you guys think you understand what he went through, being alone, but you don’t. He was only 13 when he buried us, siblings he didn’t even recognize and who he had left only minutes before. He searched for another living soul for years and found no one, because he was the last human on earth.” She looked between them and was happy to see that they both sported guilty looks.

“Then I guess it’s our turn to return the favor.” said Diego. “This time it’s not just gonna be the two of you running around trying to save all our asses.”

“Diego’s right. Five’s done nothing, but try and save us. It’s time we helped save him.”

Xylda smiled at her brothers, “Thank you.” she said sincerely. She looked at a clock and sighed, “You two should get back to bed. He should be fine for the rest of the night.”

“No way. Scooch over.” said Diego shaking his head and circling to the other side of the bed to be on Five’s other side. “We’re staying here. Call it… emotional support.” he laid down on the bed with a smirk, “Right, Luther?” Luther nodded and made a show of situating himself onto the floor, a much more comfortable option than scrunching up in a chair.

“Thank you.”

**Time Jump!**

Five became tense as he woke up when he felt the extra weight on the bed. He could clearly feel Xylda spooning him, but there was someone laying in front of him. He adjusted himself as if he was still asleep and snuck his hand underneath his pillow to grip the knife he had stashed there. Once he had a firm hold he snapped up and as quick as a striking snake he was on top of the other person with one hand wrapped around his throat and the other holding the knife poised to slit the carotid artery.

The room was a flurry of movement and sound. In response to Five’s action Diego and Xylda were jolted awake, Diego’s eyes becoming comically wide as his sleep addled brain told him that his brother was straddling him with a knife at his throat. Xylda on the other hand had rolled to the floor to land in a crouch with a snarl and Luther knocked over a chair as he popped up from the floor, his fists raised and his eyes still filled with sleep.

Five blink as he realized that it was Diego who was under him. He frowned, “Diego… What the hell are you doing sleeping next to me?”

“Uh, could you please get that knife off my throat?” asked Diego. He was startled at the strength behind Five’s hand, but then he remembered what Xylda had said last night.  _ An increase in strength must have been one of the adjustments. _ He also noticed the slightly unhinged look in Five’s eyes and that worried him.

Five increased the pressure a little, “How about you answer my question first?”

“You had a nightmare.” said Luther, Five didn’t take his eyes off of Diego, but did tilt his head to let Luther know he had heard him.

Xylda slowly crawled onto the bed, “ _ Cinci?E bine, Cinci. Au rămas pentru că erau îngrijorați pentru tine.” _ She placed a hand on the his white knuckled grip on the knife.

“ _ Ei ar trebui să-și deranjeze propria afacere.” _ This was directed to Luther and Diego. He let Xylda take the knife from him and he rolled off of Diego to get off the bed and stretch.

Diego rolled his eyes, “Well excuse us for being worried when we're woken up in the middle of the night by our brothers muffled, nightmare induced, screams of fear." He sat up and watched Five grab the blue cardigan from yesterday, that had come out of the consulate fight unscathed, apart from some hardly noticeable drops of blood, as well as another button up shirt, tie and a pair of shorts.

"Next time just go back to sleep." 

Luther frowned at how dismissive Five was being, "Five I think we should talk about th--"

"About how we're gonna find dad again, but this time talk to him? I agree." 

"No about--" Luther's eyes widened, "Wait… you wanna talk to dad?"

"Five thinks that he can help us restore the timeline and find a way to get us all back to 2019." Explained Xylda.

"Actually we're more interested in knowing why he's standing on the grassy knoll when Kennedy's shot." Corrected Diego.

"What?" Now Luther was very confused.

Five sighed, "If we're going to do a think tank session, I'm gonna need coffee or a drink." He pulled on his shorts and sat down to get his socks and shoes on.

"Coffee." Said Xylda firmly, "I don't care if it's 5 o'clock somewhere you're not drinking at breakfast."

"Yes, dear." Diego smirked and made a whipping sound and motion, making Luther smile. Five finished tying his shoes and turned to Xylda, "Why exactly did you stop me from slitting his throat?"

She smiled and tied his tie for him, "Because blood stains are a pain in the ass to deal with and this isn't our place." She shrugged as she finished and fixed his collar, "Besides, we're guests here, remember? It would be rude to make Elliott help us get rid of Diego's corpse on top of everything else we're making him do."

Five nodded and smoothed out his shirt before buttoning up his cardigan, "Good point."

Diego frowned, "You two are sick. Normal couples do not have conversations about blood stains and getting rid of corpses this early in the morning."

"And how would you know what it's like to be a part of a normal couple?" Teased Luther, but instead of teasing him back, Diego looked sad. "Diego? What's wrong?" He asked in concern.

"I'm-- I'm gonna go start breakfast." Diego quickly left the room and pretty soon they could hear pots and pans being moved around in the kitchen.

Luther turned to Five and Xylda for an explanation, "Is it because of Patch? Cause I didn't mean--"

"No, Luther. It's because--"

"Diego met a girl in the nuthouse and fell for her, but last night we realized that she was lying to us and most likely working for the Commission. So he's feeling heartbroken." Said Five bluntly, "Nice going, Luther. Way to rip into a wound before it's even begun to heal." Luther growled at Five as he walked out of the room and headed to the kitchen.

"Does he actively work at being an asshole or does it just come naturally?" He asked sarcastically.

Xylda snorted, "You know just as well as I do that he's always been like that."

Luther shook his head, "What on earth do you see in him?"

Xylda smiled, "Now that is between me and him. Now go on and help them make breakfast while I get dressed. Do me a favor and make sure Five doesn't drink the entire pot himself."

"Sure."

**Quick Squick!**

Luther was manning the stove when Xylda joined them and Diego was pacing as Five sipped at his coffee. He took a cup off the counter and handed it to her, taking a sip she was happy to notice that he had added some honey, just the way she liked it. That earned him a kiss on the cheek.

"No, no, no. I don't understand. They keep following me." Declared Diego as he placed. 

"Wait, who?" Asked Luther.

"Those Dutch sociopaths."

"Their Swedish you idiot." Corrected Five, "Hired guns paid to eradicate us before we can do anymore damage to this timeline."

"Yeah, but why now?" Questioned Diego. "I was fine for three months before you showed up." Be pointed at Five.

"Yeah." Agreed Luther, "I was here for a year and no one messed with me."

"That's a good point." Said Xylda, "Why would the Commission leave everyone alone until now? They should have done something when you each first arrived to keep you from making any changes at all. So why didn't they?" Diego and Luther gave Five a pointed look.

Five rolled his eyes, "Even if it was my fault, which it isn't. We only have six days til the end of the world, and the closest anyone's gotten to dad was that driveway at the consulate."

"Well…" Luther licked his lips and sighed, "That's not exactly true."

Five stepped closer to Luther and Diego eyed him, "What do you mean?" Asked Five.

"I saw him." Stated Luther. He then went on to explain how he had found dad living in the Umbrella Academy and figuratively stomped on him in the middle of a party he was throwing.

Xylda gave Luther a sad look, "That's…"

"Pathetic." Mocked Diego.

Xylda kicked him under the table making him wince and Five smile, "I was going to say brutal."

"At least he didn't shank my ass." Mocked Luther.

"No, bro. He shanked your heart." He said gently.

Five and Xylda gave Diego matching WTF looks as a sleepy Elliott shuffled in. He eyed them all sitting at his small kitchen table, "Is that my bathrobe?" He asked, eyeing Luther.

"No." Said Luther with a mouth full of eggs.

"Look, who cares what got shanked." Said Five, "He knows something about time travel."

Elliott raised his hand, "Wait, wait. Why don't you do your thing and, uh, time travel us out?"

"Us?" Asked Xylda quirking an eyebrow.

Five sighed and got up to get more coffee, "Anyone care to explain?" He asked in irritation.

"The first time he tried he got stuck in the apocalypse." Started Luther.

"For 45 years." Added Xylda.

"Second time he ended up without hair on his balls." Comment Diego, earning him another kick from Xylda.

"The last time I tried, I scattered my family across three years in Dallas, Texas, possibly triggering a Doomsday." Finished Five. "Anymore questions, Elliott?"

Elliott shook his head, "Uh… no." He said awkwardly.

"Guys we're missing the big picture here. Dad is the ringleader of a sinister cabal that's planning to kill the president."

"A cabal?" Asked Luther incredulously.

"Ignore him." Said Xylda, "We haven't confirmed anything."

"The way I see it, we only have one option." Started Five.

"Oh, yeah? And what's that?" Asked Luther, Diego and Xylda also gave him curious looks.

"It's time to get the Umbrella Academy back together." He said.

Diego smirked, "Hell, yeah. Family meeting."

"Okay then, can one of you three get Allison, please?" Begged Luther.

Diego raised an eyebrow, "You two still a thing?"

"Yeah, that's a hard no." Said Xylda.

Diego leaned closer to Luther, "Do we need to talk?"

"No, she's married."

Diego winced, "Woah. Dude, that's rough."

"I can handle it."

Xylda snorted, "Yeah, if you call letting another boxer beat the shit out of you handling it, then yeah. You're solid bro."

"What?" Asked Diego, giving Luther a concerned look.

"Bro that is not a healthy way to deal with a breakup."

Luther shook his head, "We are not talking about this."

"You gotta talk to somebody." Pointed out Xylda.

"And who better than family?"

"A psychiatrist?" Offered Elliott, but all three men glared at him.

Xylda was more open to the idea, "That might be a good idea."

"Yeah, that'll go well. 'Hey doc, I feel like shit because the woman I've been in love with since I was prepubescent has married other men, even though she's clearly in love with me. Oh, and she's also my adopted sister.'" Diego snickered at Five's ridiculous impersonation of Luther.

Xylda frowned, "Talking to a professional when you know something is wrong, isn't a bad thing. Vanya had a therapist."

Diego snorted, "She blew up the moon."

Xylda narrowed her eyes, "It was an accident. She was trying to defend herself with powers she has no firm control over."

"And it was only because the Commission interfered." Added Five.

Xylda nodded, "Yes, thank you."

"She was also being manipulated by a psychopath who had a vendetta against us." Added Luther.

"Guess falling in love with psychopaths is a family trend." Muttered Five taking a sip of his coffee.

"You realize you just called yourself a psychopath." Said Diego.

"I know what I said." Five put his cup down, "Xylda and I will get Allison." He looked at Luther, "You two go get Vanya."

"What about Klaus?" 

"I think he might be with Allison." Said Luther, "She said he started a cult so she must have talked with him."

Xylda groaned, "Of course he did." She got up from the table to join Five.

**Quick Squick!**

People eyed Xylda and Five as they walked arm in arm down the street towards Allison's house where, according to Luther, she was living the apple pie life of a married woman. "I think it's safe to say that our sister has a serious problem when it comes to romantic relationships."

"You mean she has a problem when it comes to one romantic relationship or lack thereof." Corrected Five.

"She's not the only one at fault here. If Luther had gotten his head out of dad's ass sooner, she wouldn't have married two men who aren't him."

"Do you honestly think it would be a good idea for them to get romantically involved at this point?" He wondered.

She sighed, "I think if they tried it out they'd either realize they've been idiots this whole time or that they dodged a bullet." She shook her head, "Either way I am getting sick of all their love sick looks."

Five looked around at the houses that made up the neighborhood, "Did you ever imagine yourself moving to a neighborhood like this and getting a house?" He could see the appeal the setting had for most people, the white picket fences, the kind and generous neighbors. Personally he didn't think he could ever see him in such a… boring setting. Though he did take pause at a group of kids playing with a dog.

"Nah." She shook her head, "I always imagined owning a brownstone. In fact there's one back home I've had my eye on for a while. It's owned by an old woman named Angelique. She's a friend of mine, very sweet, and she hasn't any family, so she said she'd leave it to me in her will."

He raised an eyebrow, "That's very generous of her. Why'd she do that?" 

"Well, she likes me and apparently her family built it just before the 20th century. She knew I wanted to raise a family of my own and said that she'd rather it go to a family than the historical society to be used as a museum."

His face became serious as he latched onto something, "If I hadn't come back, what would you have done? About a family of your own I mean."

She eyed him as she thought of her answer, "Well, it would be nice to adopt or become a foster mom, but my appearance and powers would make it near impossible. Remember people weren't exactly trusting of me during the Academy days and when Vanya published her book people finally realized that I was the Umbrella Academy's monstrous Gargoyle. This one cashier almost had a heart attack when I was buying some clothes. Dad had to help me get my motorcycle license." He looked shocked, "Yeah, it's definitely something I'm not proud of." She sighed, "I guess in the end though, if you hadn't come back after a few more years I would have gone with a sperm bank."

"You'd be okay having a total stranger's baby?" He asked.

"The baby would be mine not theirs. There is nothing wrong with sperm banks, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a stranger. There are few people I know that would be happy to help me."

"Really?" He asked tightly.

She patted his arm, "Don't worry. There's absolutely no romantic or sexual interest between me or any of them. So you have nothing to worry about."

"So you really want to be a mom?"

She laughed, "Yeah, some day. I think I'd like to leave something good behind when I finally pass on."

"So why a brownstone?"

"I like living in the city and a brownstone provides a lot of space to work with. And… I guess in a small way it would remind me of the Academy."

Five nodded, "Say what you will about his parenting and teaching methods, but Dad had it right by buying up the whole block."

Xylda read the addresses on the house, "Here it is." She declared as they came to a stop in front of the correct house.

"Hopefully she's home." Muttered Five as they walked up to the front door. Xylda stopped him from spatial walking and knocked on the door. "My ways faster."

"But if her husband's home we don't want to freak him out."

Five looked at the empty driveway, "There's no car."

"Just because they have a house doesn't necessarily mean they have a car."

Their talk came to an end when Klaus opened the door. He eyed them in shock,"Xylda? Five?"

"Klaus!" Shrieked Xylda wrapping Klaus in a tight hug which was enthusiastically returned.

"Oh my god! I thought you were dead!" He turned to see an amused Five, "Five!" He shouted dragging the protesting man into a hug, "You grouchy old man, I never thought I'd be so happy to see your hairless face!"

"Klaus? Did I hear you say--" Allison came around a corner and saw what was happening. Xylda pushed past Klaus, who was hugging a struggling Five, to hug her sister. "Xylda!" She shouted, grabbing her sister.

Xylda's nose wrinkled at what she smelled, "Are you drunk in the middle of the morning?"

"Maybe." Giggled Allison.

Finally getting out of Klaus's hug Five fixed his rumpled clothes, "Doesn't matter. The two of you need to get your drunk asses dressed. We're having a family meeting."

Klaus frowned, "What's wrong little man?"

Five glared, "I was just hugged by a man who obviously hasn't bathed in a while and brushed his teeth with tequila. That's what's wrong."

Klaus looked affronted, "I'll have you know I bathed last night."

"And it's not tequila." Added Allison, she and Klaus shared a giggle.

"You know they have soap in 1963 right?" Snarked Five. Making Ben laugh though Klaus was the only one who heard it.

"He's right. Not about you not using soap Klaus." Said Xylda before Klaus could protest again, "You two needed to get dressed. Luther and Diego are getting Vanya as we speak."

"Aw, I can't wait to see little Vanya again." Murmured Klaus. He and Allison moved deeper into the house leaving Five and Xylda in the foyer.

"How come they get to be drunk for this?" 

**Quick Squick!**

Xylda and Five entered the storefront of Elliott's place with Allison and Klaus giggling behind them. Five had used a few spatial jumps to get them back quicker, since he didn't want to risk them getting stopped by the police.

"Is there anyone here? Hello?" Called out Allison when she saw the seemingly deserted store.

_ "Let petit Mort, let petit Mort." _ Said Klaus in a bad french accent.

"What? You don't speak French." Giggled Allison.

"It's 'the little death'." Explained Klaus.

Five rolled his eyes and looked to Xylda with a smirk, " _ Depuis combien de temps avez-vous vécu la petite mort? _ "X ylda just laughed at how ridiculous the question was. 

_ "S'il vous plaît, ne me demandez plus jamais cela." _

"Oh, wow. Look at this old stuff." Gasped Klaus, he then looked up to the balcony to see, Diego, Luther and Vanya looking down at them. "Oh, wow. I know this is impossible, but… Did we all get sexier?" He waved to his siblings.

Vanya smiled and came down the stairs, "Vanya." Said Allison quietly. 

"I can't believe I have another sister." She said getting to the bottom of the stairs to hug Allison.

"I missed you." Whispered Allison.

Diego and Luther came down to greet Klaus. Diego pulled back from the hug to examine Klaus and chuckled, "Oh, you are drunk."

"Yeah. No, just a little… just a few…" he stumbled over his words and turned to point at Allison, but was delighted by what he saw. "Oh,that's so sweet." He said, going over to hug his hugging sisters.

Vanya giggled, “Hi.”

“Hey, Vanny.” greeted Klaus.

“Klaus. Is Ben here?” asked Five.

Klaus looked up and exited the hug, “Oh, uh… no.” He said, “No, unfortunately, ghosts can’t time travel.

_ “Are you kidding me?” _ complained Ben.

Xylda narrowed her eyes at Klaus who fidgeted under her gaze, “Pants on fire.” she accused.

Klaus sputtered, “I am not!”

Diego nodded, “Yeah, he’s definitely lying.”

“All right, then. Let’s get down to business.”

“To defeat the Huns?” asked Klaus, earning snickers from everyone, but Five and Vanya. Shrugging he turned to Vanya and placed a hand around her shoulders to escort her upstairs, “So, Vanny, what’s new?”

Everyone moved to go upstairs and Allison looked across to Diego, “Hey, Diego.” she called out, “Can’t say hi to nobody?”

“Hi, Allison.” he said quietly going up the stairs.

“What was that?”

“Hi, Allison!” he said louder making her smile.

“Thank you!”

The family of seven and Elliot made themselves comfortable on the balcony/living room, “All right.” said Five kicing things off, “First off, I wanna say I’m sorry. I know I really screwed the pooch on this whole going-back-in-time-and-getting-stuck thing.” His siblings nodded, accepting his apology, “But the real kick in the pants here is we brought the end of the world back here with us.”

“Oh, my god, again?” asked Klaus, seeing that he was the only one surprised he frowned, “All of you knew? What am I always the last one to find out about the end of the-- Oh, my god.” He gasped, “My cult is going to be so pissed. Five! I told them we had until 2019.”

“We have until Monday. We have six days.” Explained Five.

“Is it Vanya?” asked Klaus taking a sip of his drink.

“Klaus!” Hissed Allison and Xylda.

“What? It was Vanya the last time.” He defended.

Vanya frowned a little and looked to Five, “Do you have any leads, Five?”

Xylda picked up the file off the coffee table and handed it to Allison, “We have one.” she said.

Allison’s eyes widened when she opened it to see a blurry photograph, “Holy shit, is that Dad?”

“Yeah.” said Diego.

“That’s him?” asked Vanya examining the picture closely.

“Standing on the grassy knoll.” explained Diego.

“Diego, Xylda and I have been trying to talk to dad about what exactly this means. So far we’ve got nothing.”

“Not nothing.” refuted Diego, “We know he’s planning to kill Kennedy.” Allison, Klaus and Vanya looked shocked.

“Maybe.” argued Five, “But we don’t know who or what sets Doomsday in motion.”

“It could be Kennedy’s death, or it could be something entirely independent.” continued Xylda.

“But if we know something changes the timeline, we have to make it right.” finished Five.

“Yeah, but how, if we don’t know what’s broken?” questioned Allison.

“Oh, come on. Do the math.” started Diego, “We know Dad’s having shady-ass meetings with some shady-ass people.”

“True.” acknowledged Xylda.

“We know he’s on the grassy knoll in three days to kill the president.”

“Half-true.” 

Diego glared at her, “So… I think we all know what we have to do.” Luther, Klaus, Allison, Vanya and Xylda waited for him to tell them.

“Find Dad.” said Five at the same time that Diego said, “Kill dad.” Everyone gave Diego WTF looks.

“One of us are supposed to be here, right? I mean, what if it’s us?” she asked, she looked at her siblings, “Has anyone here done anything to screw up the timeline?” Everyone remained silent. Until Luther spoke up.

“Diego’s been stalking Lee Harvery Oswald.”

“And you’re working for Jack Ruby.” fired back Diego.

“Allison has been very involved in local politics.” offered Klaus.

“Okay,  _ you _ started a cult.”

_ “Thank you!” _ exclaimed Ben, earning a glare and some hissing from Klaus.

“I’m… I’m just a nanny on a farm. I don’t have anything to do with all of that.” explained Vanya.

“Well maybe you do and we just don’t know it yet.” offered Allison. Five and Xylda shared an exasperated look as their siblings tried to blame each other.

Having enough Diego whistled loudly to get everyone’s attention, “Listen to yourselves. Everything in our whole lives is connected to Kennedy. That can’t be a coincidence. Luther works for Ruby, Alison is protesting the government, Dad is on the grassy knoll, Klaus is… doing something weird and pervy, but probably related. Clearly we were all sent back here for one special reason: saving John Fitzgerald Kennedy.”

Luther, Allison, Klaus, Diego and Vanya’s voices began overlapping. Xylda shook her head and looked to Five who was very tense and clenching his fists. She reached out and took one of his hands, “ _ Cinci?” _ She asked quietly.

He clasped her hand so tightly she felt it might break, “Guys, you all die.” He said lifting his head. That made them all go quiet again, “I was there. I saw it.” His voice was hoarse, “And I wanna forget it, but I can’t.” His siblings gave him concerned looks, “I saw Russian nukes vaporize the world with all of you in it… in a war that never happened until we brought it here.”

“Hazel gave his life to save Five and I and bring us here.” added Xylda.

Five nodded and clenched his jaw, “So you all need to shut up and just listen to me. I don’t know if the things we’ve experienced here are all connected. I don’t know if there’s a reason for everything. But Dad will. We need to talk to him before everyone and everything we know is dead.” Xylda frowned at that, she wasn’t nearly as confident as Five about that.

“Okay, I’m out.” declared Luther getting out of his seat intent on leaving.

Five glared, “Did you even hear me Luther?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I did.” He said, “I heard a 58 year old man who still wants his daddy to come and fix everything. Well, you can count me out. It’s time we all grew the hell up.”

“Luther!” called Vanya as he left down the stairs.

“Come back.” called Allison, Diego got up to go after him.

“Where you going?” called Klaus quietly.

“Save it Diego.” ordered Luther.

“Son of a bitch.” growled Xylda going after him, while Five spatial walked to block his path.

Luther sighed as Five blocked his path, “No one leaves until we figure this out.” he commanded. They stared each other down before Luther suddenly grabbed Five and threw him off the staircase. Five grunted and did a spatial jump before he hit the ground.

“You son of a bitch!” yelled Xylda, glaring at Luther and going after Five. She ran to the back staircase that connected to the alley where they all arrived. When she exited into the alley Five’s head snapped around to look at her, “Are you alright?” she asked, stopping herself from fussing over him.

“Fine, but Lila’s back.”

“Where?”

“Come on.” He took off down the alley and she followed.

When she caught up to him she said, “You know this is a trap right?”

“That’s why  _ we’re _ following her.” He said, “She thinks I’m the only one following her.” Xylda smirked. She couldn’t wait.

**Quick Squick!**

Lila led them to an abandoned paint factory, and they watched from their hiding place as she used a stray piece of rebar to smash the glass panel of a door to enter the building.

“Her intent was to lead me here.” said Five, “So you go high and stay hidden. Do not interfere unless I call for you.”

She frowned, “I don’t like this.”

“I know. I’m not underestimating her.”

“Okay. Good luck.” she kissed his cheek before running towards the building. Five waited until she entered through one of the large square broken paneled windows, to follow after Lila.

Amongst the various old scents of the factory Xylda found Lila’s and another scent that she knew but couldn’t quite place. She followed Lila’s and saw her running with Five right on her tail, he did a spatial jump to appear in her path, the two paused before Five engaged her. Xylda watched in fascination, it wasn’t like the fight at the doughnut shop or the consulate hallway, Lila knew what she was doing, but it was clear that she hadn’t the same practical experience as Five. Her form was perfect so she landed a few hits, but she couldn’t adapt as quickly as Five.

Her eyes widened when Lila teleported from one place to another,  _ Holy shit! _ Lila became smug seeing the shock on Five’s face, she believed she had gained the upper hand, but there was one thing she didn’t factor in. The perfect opponent for a teleporter is another teleporter.

Five spun around while Lila was mid-kick, blocking it he swept his leg knocking her to the ground hard. He placed one foot on her throat to keep her in place, “You’re better than I thought.” she wheezed out.

Five’s smile was patronizing, “And you are entirely average.” Lila choked as he increased the pressure of his foot, “You can come out now.” he called out, but Xylda knew he wasn’t talking to her.

The Handler sauntered in, her red heels clicking on the floor, her hair was dyed a brunette color and she was smoking, “Well done.” she praised, “You figured it out.”

“Well, it wasn’t very hard.” He said, “She fights like every one of you Commission cronies.”

“Hmm. No matter, here we are. Together again.” mused the Handler. “I gotta ask, did you miss me, you little shit?” Lila laughed and coughed under Fives foot making him increase the pressure. Xylda shook her head, Lila really was nuts.

**End of Chapter 5**

  
  
  



	6. "A Light Supper"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Lila laughed and coughed under Fives foot making him increase the pressure. Xylda shook her head, Lila really was nuts.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. I also want to remind everyone reading this, that while Five and Xylda may look thirteen they are actually 58 and 30 respectively. 
> 
> WARNING PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU START THIS CHAPTER!!!: In this chapter I will be using some offensive and racist words. This is not because I myself approve of them or condone their usage, a person should never use a word to demean or oppress another. It's an awful thing that we have, unfortunately (and to my absolute horror), been unable to evolve past. I am using them in this chapter for a single moment, after which I will not be using them again. Thank you.
> 
> NOTE!: There is definitely some inspiration from Gabriel's speech to Lucifer in SUPERNATURAL S05E19

**"A Light Supper"**

Lila grunted and struggled under Five’s foot and Xylda could hear some creaking from her perch.

“You’ve got a good nose.” praised the Handler, “Or would that be your pets nose? Hmm?”

Five didn’t rise to the bait, “You know, planting her in the psych ward, taking advantage of my simpleton brother, that was smart.”

“Well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Five looked between Lila and the Handler, “She’s you--”

“Daughter.” she finished, “Yes, And she’s my only one, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t crush her windpipe.” Five didn’t let up right away.

“She broke my brother’s heart. That’s good enough for me.” He said darkly.

The Handler sighed, “Oh, Five. I have to admit that after all the work and effort we put into improving you, I do not know how you can remain so sentimental.”

“Says the woman asking me not to kill her daughter.”

The Handler smirked, “You won’t. After all, how would Diego feel to know you killed the woman he loved.”

“You don’t know my brother. He’d get over it, she was using him after all.” He said smugly, “On your orders no doubt.”

“Kill her and I won’t tell you my offer.” said the Handler, glaring at Five.

He smirked and removed his foot from Lila’s throat, _Point Five_ , thought Xylda smugly. Lila got her breath and glared at Five, “I am so going to enjoy killing you someday.” Five just smiled at her threat.

_As if darling. You are too young and when you finally gained the skill level needed he would have only gotten better._

“Lila, darling, would you give us a minute, please?”

“Yes, the grown ups need to talk.” Lila rolled her eyes and walked away from the pair, smacking a bucket like a moody teenager as she took a seat on a machine.

“Do you like jazz, Five?” asked the Handler out of nowhere.

“I’d rather lick a cheese grater.” he said, but Xylda knew that was a lie. He rather liked it, the spontaneity of it allowed to stop thinking and just listen.

The Handler smiled, “Aww. Jazz is like a beautiful woman.” she circled him, “Complex, emotional, hard to please. She doesn’t just give it to you… she makes you work for it.” Xylda rolled her eyes at the woman’s subtext.

Five felt the same, “I’m really hoping that you’re going somewhere with this.” he said in irritation.

“Under my leadership, the Commission would sound more like… Jazz.” she whispered and mimicked a soft jazz rhythm.

“And what about the board of directors?”

The woman smirked, “Well, that’s where _you_ come in.” she bopped his nose.

“Nope.” he denied, “No it isn’t.”

The Handler wasn’t deterred, “In exchange of the assassination of the board, I’m willing to get you and your family out of this timeline and back to 2019 where you belong.”

“And what about World War III that’s due to kick off in just a few days?” He asked, not buying her pitch.

“Once you and your siblings are gone, that goes away.” She said simply.

“And the apocalypse when we get back to 2019?” he asked, “The one the Commission caused.”

“You mean the one your sister Vanya caused.”

Five shook his head, “No. She was fine until you sent a squad to kill us.” Xylda saw Lila tense at hearing that and moved to a different perch, just in case.

The Handler leaned in with a smile, “I was acting under orders, but when you and your family get back to 2019 that apocalypse will not be happening.”

“I distinctly remember you telling me that that apocalypse _had_ to happen, that it was _supposed_ to happen.”

“Back then I was toeing the company line, but once _I’m_ in charge…” She pressed close to Five’s back and mimicked the same tune as before, “... we can riff…”

“Jazz.” said Five in realization.

“Exactly.”

Five stepped away from the Handler and combed a hand through his hair in thought, Lila and the Handler waited eagerly for his reply, “What about the board of directors, hmm? I mean, nobody knows who they are.”

“Correct.” She agreed, “But once every fiscal quarter, they get together for a board meeting.”

“Where?”

“The question is when.” She corrected, “They meet somewhere in the timeline, but never in the same place twice. The exact location and date of these board meetings is the most closely guarded secret in the Commission.”

“But you know where it’s gonna be, don’t you?”

“Would I be any good at what I do if I didn’t?”

Five leaned against a table and crossed his arms, “I need some time to think about it.”

She smiled, “Fine.” Five started to leave and Xylda followed to watch his back, “But remember Doomsday’s right around the corner, and the way things are going, I’m your only option.”

Five scoffed lightly, “Not yet you aren’t.” He called back and spatial walked out.

Xylda met up with Five a good distance away from the factory, “You know it’s a set up right?” She said without preamble.

“I know. She wants to use me to gain complete control of the Commission.” He frowned, “Which is a big step from her previous devotion.”

“Something’s changed.”

“But what?” he questioned, “She was tempting me as hard as she could, to get me to agree.”

“Why isn’t she sending Lila to do it? Yes, I know you’re the best.” she added when he was going to say something.

“Speaking of which, she’s not just some Commission croney.”

“She can teleport. Just like you.” she agreed, “The question is how?”

“Maybe the Commission gave her the ability.” he offered, “They may have even used my DNA to give it to her. Maybe they were hoping to figure out how to give agents the ability to time travel without having to rely on the briefcases.”

“Well, she can definitely teleport. But can she time travel?”

Five pursed his lips, “Doubtful. It’s a miracle they were able to figure out my teleportation.”

"Well, they did discover how to time travel and build an entire agency around it."

"True, but it probably took centuries to make that discovery. I have no idea when the Commission was created." He reasoned.

Xylda shook her head, "Either way the Handler has access to someone willing and able to carry out the hit, so why turn to you? She hates you and she certainly doesn’t trust you."

“It’s like you said, it’s a setup. She wants me to be her patsy. If she wants to take over the Commission, no one’s going to follow her if the assassination is traced back to her.” He scoffed, “And no one would believe me if I said that she ordered it.”

“So what do we do?” she asked, “The Commission wants all of us dead. With their resources, even if we managed to get back to 2019, they might still come after us.”

He sighed, “I know. We’ve just gotta hope dad will be able to tell us something helpful.”

“I don’t know how he could. He didn’t know much about practical time travel when we were kids, he only knew the theory behind it.”

Five grabbed her hand and pulled her off the street and into an alley. He moved her to have her back against the wall, “Look, I know it’s a long shot, but I’ve run out of ideas.” he said honestly. “I’m tired, Xylda. It’s just one thing after the other and I can’t--” He trailed off and leaned against her, his forehead going to her shoulder.

She wrapped her arms around him, “ _Știu, Cinci. Stiu.”_ She cooed, “ _Nimeni nu merită odihnă mai mult decât tine, dragostea mea. Dar... aceasta este ultima dată._ ” She gently lifted his head to look into his eyes, which were glossy with unshed tears, _“Odată ce ne vom întoarce, tu și cu mine ... vom pleca. Doar noi doi. La fel cum am plănuit întotdeauna.”_

He smiled, “ _Mi-ar placea asta.”_

_“Vom trece prin asta, Five. Trebuie doar să continui un pic mai mult.”_

He nodded, “You’re right.” Taking a deep breath he composed himself, “Let’s get back to the other’s. Hopefully Diego was able to get Luther to come back.”

Xylda’s eyes narrowed, “I still can’t believe he threw you like that.”

“I know. The monkey learned how to fight dirty.”

A cough at the mouth of the alley caught their attention and made Five tense. Xylda looked over his shoulder to see an old gentleman dressed as a chauffeur. She nodded to Give and he turned to face the gentleman, "Can we help you?" He asked tersely.

The man said nothing. He simply walked up to them, when he placed a hand in his coat pocket to retrieve something they both moved. Xylda grabbed his right hand with her right and placed the top of her hidden blades at his throat, while Five grabbed his left hand. The man froze and let Five retrieve whatever it was from the man's pocket.

He pulled out an envelope, "If he moves, slit his throat." She nodded as he let go of the man's hand to open the envelope. After reading it he said, "Let him go." Xylda did as he said.

The man remained silent and fixed his clothes before tipping his hat to the and walking away.

"What is it?"

"'To my pursuers, I, Reginald Hargreeves, request the pleasure of your company for a light supper on the 20tb of November, 1963, half past seven o'clock. 1624 Magnolia Street.'" he read.

"Okay, that warrants a 'How in the Hell did he know how to find us.'"

Five smirked and placed the note back inside the envelope, "You gotta admit the old man has style."

"Old man?" She asked incredulously with a chuckle, "In 1963 he's younger than you."

"Huh." He thought about it, "That's a good point."

"Should we get back to the others or…"

He sighed, "Well, we know where he's going to be tonight. So what's the point in rushing." He offered her an arm, "Why don't you and I take this opportunity to have a break."

"In the middle of trying to avert the apocalypse?" She asked incredulously, "Shouldn't we be telling the others about dads invitation."

"If he sent one to us, he sent ones to the others as well. So… Come on." He cajoled, "Let me take you on a proper date."

"In 1963?"

He shrugged, "At least it will be interesting."

She laughed, taking his arm his spatial walked them away from the alley and closer to Elliott's place. "You don't have to woo me you know." She said, "You already have me."

"Doesn't mean I should take you for granted and not show you a good time." He countered.

They walked by a pet store and Five pulled her arm, "Come on."

Her brow furrowed as they entered the store. The dogs in the window growled at Xylda making her shuffle closer to Five, "Why are we in here?" She asked, "You know animals don't like me."

"Well maybe that's because you haven't found the right one." He said, letting one of the dogs.

She realized something, "Oh… that's right. You always wanted to get a dog."

"Dad would never let me get one though."

"Because of me." She said sadly, something about her set animals on edge around her. 

"Because he was an asshole." He corrected.

She laughed, "Yeah, that he was." She looked at the fish tanks, "What would you have named it? If dad had agreed to let you get a dog I mean."

"Mr. Pennycrumb." She stifled her laughter making Five pout, "Don't laugh. It's a cute name, and if I were to get a dog, I'd want it to be cute."

"I would have thought you'd want it to be more of an attack dog than a cuddle buddy."

"I'm vicious enough, no need to add to it." He said, smiling when one of the puppy's tried to crawl over the divider to get to him. Xylda smiled and reached her hand out slowly to pet the pup, but it took one sniff and bared its teeth at her with a growl. She sighed and retracted her hand. He took it and kissed it, "It might take some time, but I'm sure we could find one that likes us both." She smiled at the gesture, "Maybe we could try a breeder directly. Get a puppy when it's been born, and let it grow up under your care."

"Didn't work out that way for dad." She snarked.

Five frowned, "No thinking about dad right now. Don't think about the Commission or the Handler, or Doomsday or our family. Right now it's just about you and me." She gave him a loving smile as she nodded, "Okay. Now come on." Five led her out of the store and the two continued down the street.

When they saw Allison practically run out of a diner in distress they both were worried. Especially when a man followed her out calling her name, followed by another who looked angry. 

Five groaned as Xylda took off after the trip, "Is it too much to ask for some time to ourselves?" He asked no one in particular. He spatial walked to close the gap between him and his sister's.

Allison gasped as Five appeared in front of her. "Allison!" Called out the man. Five narrowed his eyes and got between the two.

"Who the hell are you and why are you bothering my sister?" He demanded.

The man came to a stop and gave Five a weird look, "Sister-- you've got another brother?" He asked in exasperation.

"She's got four in total and I'm the one you don't want to have to deal with."

"Five don't." Begged Allison. "It's okay. This is--"

"Hey!" The three turned to see a young white man stomping towards them, "What the hell did you do back there? Huh?" He demanded. 

"Hey, man she didn't do any--"

"Shut up! I wasn't talking to you, Spade." He looked over the man's shoulder to Allison, "I was talking to Bootlips."

Five practically snarled at the man, "What did you just call her?" He asked coldly.

The white man scoffed, "Run along kid. This ain't your business."

Five stepped closer to him, "It's my business when some pathetic piece of shit insults my sister."

"Why you little…"

"Five!" Shouted Allison as the man took a swing at her brother. Five smirked and grabbed the man's arm, easily twisting it behind his back and slamming him face first into the wall of a store.

"Now listen up. If you ever come near her again, I'm gonna shove my foot so far up your ass you're going to be tasting show polish for the rest of you life. You got it?" The man struggled in his hold, so Five increased the strength of his grip making the man cry out in pain. Allison's pretty sure she heard something crack, "Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes! I understand!" Five pulled him off the wall and tossed him to the ground. The idiot snarled and made to launch himself at Five, but a shoe stomped on the man's broken hand before he could, "Ah!" He looked up and saw Xylda standing over him.

"Bad idea." She t'sked, "He really was being polite after all." She leaned down and pushed her sunglasses down. His eyes widened in fright, "Now, get lost." She lifted his foot and the man bolted down the street. Five smiled, as she straightened and placed her sunglasses back in their proper place. "I'm surprised you only broke his hand."

"I was restraining myself. After all, we are in public." He gestured to the street where some people were starring at the four of them.

"Who the hell are you?" Asked the man.

Allison stepped forward, "Ray, meet my brother and sister. Five and Xylda." They waved at Ray, "Guys, this is my husband, Raymond Chestnut."

"So you're our new brother-in-law." Said Five. He held out his hand, "I guess it's nice to meet you then." Ray carefully took Fives hand and winced at the pressure. Five starred the man down.

"Five." Admonished Xylda, stepping forward to cover his white knuckled hand. Five let go and Ray cradled his hand, "You have to excuse him. He's fiercely protective of his family." She smiled, "It's nice to meet you, Raymond."

"Nice to meet you too, I guess." He said as Allison examined his hand. "You looked like you were going to kill that guy."

"I would have, if he kept insulting Allison." Said Five, he looked at his sister, "Are you alright?" He asked gently.

She nodded, "Y-yeah. I'm okay. I was just freaked out is all. You didn't have to do that."

"Yes he did." Argued Xylda, "He deserved more than just a broken hand. A broken jaw would have been nice, maybe that would be a better way to teach him that words hurt."

"So… you wanna tell us what that was all about?" Asked Five.

Allison frowned, "I rumored the racist owner of the diner into burning his hand with coffee."

"Well, judging by those bags you've rumored more than just a racist diner owner." Commented Five. "It's not like you to use your powers for something as silly as fashion. Nice dress though."

"What about the two of you, huh?" She demanded, not answering his question, "Where'd you run off to?"

"Five had to cool off." Lied Xylda, "Luther did toss him off a staircase."

"What?" Asked Ray, in shock.

Five smiled, "Oh, yeah. One important thing to understand when it comes to our family is that we all have… violent tendencies. Even Klaus."

"Though it takes a lot to piss him off." Explained Xylda.

"Klaus… that's the one who got me out of jail, right?"

Allison nodded, "Yeah."

Ray's brow furrowed, "If he's named Klaus, and you're named Allison then why is he named Five?"

"Our dad didn't name us, he numbered us. Allison is Number Three and I'm Number Eight."

"Luther's Number One. Klaus is Number Four, Diego's Number Two, Ben was Number Six and Vanya is Number Seven." Explained Five, "Speaking of Dad, did you get his invitation?"

Allison frowned, "No. What invitation?"

"It was probably delivered to your house." Reasoned Xylda.

"Probably. But long story short he wants to talk to all of us, tonight at seven o'clock."

"Where?" Asked Allison.

"It's all in the invitation." Said Five, "Now if you'll excuse us, but Xylda and I have a date to continue." Before Ray or Allison could say anything Five spatial walked himself and Xylda away. Ray's eyes widened and Allison sighed, now she had even more to explain.

Five and Xylda enjoyed themselves until they had to meet with dad. Five had picked the pocket of the asshole who had insulted Allison and they'd used the money in his wallet to get themselves a good meal. Afterwards they had gone to the park and just sat together talking, Five had indulged her and joined her in people watching. 

She knew that he was nervous about seeing Dad again. So she tried to take his mind off of it as much as she could, but she wasn't as successful as she would have liked. Big blue glowing letters declared the building as _SOUTH AND LIFE_. 

It wasn't until they got to the elevators that they were joined by their siblings. "Wait up." Said Diego, stopping the elevator doors from closing.

"Hold it." Called Allison.

"Hey, everyone." Greeted Klaus.

"Excuse me." Said Luther and they all adjusted for his size.

Five smiled when he saw Vanya, "Good. We're all here." Xylda squeezed his hand.

When they reached the correct floor, the doors opened to reveal a Tiki Lounge restaurant, with soft island music playing the background. The only person there was a bartender who was busy mixing drinks.

"All right, when Dad gets here I'll do all the talking, okay?" Instructed Five, as they descended the short stairs and towards the tables. One was set up in the center with a fruit bouquet as the center piece.

"I've got a few questions for him, myself." Said Diego.

"Hey, we don't want to scare him off. All right?" Advised Five, "He might be able to help us stop Doomsday, and get us home."

"No, Five. We need to figure out why he's planning to kill the president." 

"This is a matter of life and death, you imbecile."

"We still have no proof, other than a blurry photo of a man that looks like dad, standing on the grassy knoll." Pointed out Xylda, "If you accuse him without solid proof he's just going to make a fool of you."

Vanya ever the peacekeeper, even without her memories butted in before the argument could escalate, "Okay, yeah, maybe we should take turns talking. Yeah?" She picked up a decorative conch shell, "Here, whoever has got this conch shell gets to talk."

"This isn't Lord of the Flies Vanya. Although there are definite similarities." Xylda muttered the last bit.

"We don't have time for a debate, okay?" Groused Five. His nervousness making him grouchy.

"Maybe I should lead." Said Allison taking the shell from Vanya, "We all know I'm a better public speaker than the rest the rest of you." She took a seat at the table.

"Okay, Daddy's girl."

They all started to take seats, leaving the one at the 'top' of the circle free for Dad. "Oh, jealous, Number Two?x mocked Allison.

"Hey, no more numbers." Said Diego, circling to get a seat, "No more bullshit. We're Team Zero. We're all Team Zero, now."

"Team Ze--" Xylda sighed and dropped her head into her hands, "Diego your my brother and I love you but you're an idiot." Diego glared at Xylda.

"Uh, Diego. You don't have the conch." Pointed out Luther.

Diego smiled sarcastically before taking the conch and throwing it into the wall, shattering it.

"Classic." Muttered Allison.

That's when Dad entered. Coming through the kitchen door he marched right up to the table and took his seat. Five, Diego and Allison instinctively waited until he took a seat before sitting themselves. Five took the seat next to Xylda and she placed a hand on his thigh in comfort.

"Not only have you burglarized my lab, set my chimp loose, conned your way into the Mexican consulate, repeatedly stalked and attacked me. But you have on numerous occasions called me--" Reginald stopped talking as Klaus took the seat next to him.

"Hey, pop. How's it hanging." He greeted.

"--'Dad'." Finished Reginald, "My reconnaissance tells me you're not CIA…"

"Not in the 1969's, no." Commented Xylda, earning her a whithering look from Reginald for interrupting him.

"... Not KGB, certainly not MI5, so… who are you?" He asked. The table was silent and Xylda squeezed Five's thigh to get him to speak. 

It took a second, but he licked his lips, "We're your children." Reginald's head snapped to face him, "From the future. In 1989, you adopted us all and trained us to fight against the end of the world." Reginald eyed them all skeptically, "Called us the Umbrella Academy." Klaus raised his glass, and Reginald saw the tattoo of an Umbrella on his wrist.

"Why on earth would I adopt seven--"

"Eight." Corrected Allison, "One of us isn't here."

"He's dead." Clarified Xylda.

"But he's still here." Said Klaus. He turned and raised his drink to Ben who thanked him for the acknowledgement.

"Regardless. What would possess me to adopt right ill-mannered malcontents?"

"We all have special abilities." Said Five.

That piqued Reginald's interest, "Special? In what sense?"

"In the superpower sense." Said Luther.

"Call me old fashioned, but I'm a stickler for a pesky little thing called evidence. Show me." He demanded 

"Everybody wants to see powers all of a sudden." Scoffed Allison.

"We're not circus animals,okay? We're not gonna bounce balls on our noses and clap our hands like deals for your enjoyment." Said Luther firmly. Diego unsheathed a knife and three it into the middle of the table, it changed trajectories and sailed past Reginald's head and into a wooden column.

Reginald frowned and clicking his own began to write in his journal. They all leaned over to try and see what he was writing.

"What are you writing?" Asked Diego.

"You are zero for two, young man." Stated Reginald.

Allison snickered and Diego got up to lunge at Reginald, but Five spatial walked and blocked his path. "Stop!" Whispered Five.

"Now that is interesting." Remarked Reginald.

"All right, uh, quick rundown. Luther super strength. Klaus can conmune with the dead. Allison can rumor anyone to do anything." He explained circling back to his seat.

"Except she never uses it." Muttered Diego.

Allison narrowed her eyes, "I heard a rumour… that you punched yourself in the face."

Naturally Diego did just that, "Aah!" He cried out clutching his face, "Damnit.".

"Then there's our dead brother who can create a Lovecraft portal in his stomach that summons Eldritch tentacles that he can control." Xylda looked to Klaus, "Was that accurate or does he disapprove?" 

Klaus looked back and then looked back at her a smiled, "He says you nailed it."

"And what of you?" Asked Reginald.

Xylda sighed and took off her glasses. Reginald was hardly impressed until she let herself shift and then to his shock use her claws to slit her wrist.

Reginald watched in fascination as black blood bled from the wound which closed without a scar before his very eyes. "Most fascinating." He said. Xylda rolled her eyes and let her shift fade. Allison handed her some napkins to clean up her blood. Reginald looked at Vanya, "And you?"

Luther spoke up, "Uh, maybe we don't take Vanya for a test run." Cautioned Luther placing a hand on her arm.

"Oh, yeah, that's probably not a good idea." Agreed Klaus.

Vanya shrugged, "It's fine. I can handle it." She said picking up a fork. Her siblings immediately began to protest, much to Reginald's confusion.

Xylda simply ducked beneath the table. When she heard a high pitched ringing noise she covered her ears. A small explosion rocked the table and Five and Allison reared back in their seats as something splattered.

She popped back up to see the fruit bouquet a pile of mush and her siblings and dad covered in fruit guts, "Damn… Your still alive." She muttered in disappointment.

"Oops." Apologized Vanya with a silly smile.

"This is my favorite shirt. Wow." Complained Klaus brushing fruit guts off of him.

"That was impressive." Praised Luther.

"Look, it doesn't matter what our abilities are. In five days the world is plunged into World War III. A nuclear war that wipes out all of humanity." Explained Xylda.

"And we need your help too--"

"No." Said Diego interrupting Five. "We're here be ause we know that you're involved in a plot to assassinate the president." He stood up and leaned on the table.

Reginald didn't even flinch, "You were recently hospitalized, isn't that correct?" Diego shook his head and opened his mouth but Reginald steam rolled him, "You still appear to be suffering from delusions of grandeur and acute paranoia."

"Am I?" Challenged Diego, pulling out the blurred photo he placed it in front of Reginald. "Explain this. That's you. Two days from now on the grassy knoll at the exact spot the president's gonna get shot."

Reginald examined the photo with an impassive look, "Well…"

"Oh, no." Whispered Xylda. Give gave her a concerned look. 

"... I suppose you've solved it." He placed the picture in front of Diego, "You've single handedly unearthed my nefarious plot. Is that what you want to hear?" They all watched the wind leaving Diego's sails, "You fancy yourself a do-gooder? The last good man who will save us from our descent into corruption and conspiracy? This is a fantastic delusion." That's when Reginald really cut into him, "The sad reality is that you're a desperate man, tragically unaware of his own insignificance, desperately clinging to his own ineffectual reasoning."

"That's enough!" Declared Xylda. She wasn't going to sit by and let their dad bully their brother. "You made your point. Diego's wrong and you're not trying to kill the president."

"Look, forget about the president. We have a catastrophic war coming in five days and we need to figure out how to stop it." Reminded Five 

"War?" Asked Reginald, "Men will always be at war with each other."

"You're right." Admitted Xylda, "But this war brings about the end of life on this planet."

"It's a Doomsday." Clarified Five.

"Well… you're the special ones aren't you? Why don't you band together and do something about it?"

"Because our powers are useless against hundreds of nuclear explosions happening all around the world." Said Xylda, "We need to find the trigger and stop it from being pulled, but we need resources to do that."

"Your resources." Finished Five.

Reginald closed his journal and picked up his things, "Well, I've seen about enough. Thank you for coming." He got up to walk out, but Luther wasn't having it. 

Slamming his fists on the table he stood up and ripped open his shirt. Revealing his ape like upper body, his sibling winced. "Look at what you did to me." He shouted. Reginald stopped and turned to look at Luther. "Look at it!" He shouted.

Five leaned back in his seat with a grimace, "Oh, shit, why?" He complained.

Reginald starred and then turned to look at Five and Xylda, "You, in the culottes and you red eyes. A word, in private?" He pointed to the bar. Xylda and Five shared a look before following him to the bar. The rest of their siblings chose that as their cue to leave. Xylda patted Diego's arm as she passed him, he watched her walk away with a sad look.

Reginald, Five and Xylda each took a seat at the bar, "The two of you seem to be the sensible ones of the bunch."

"That's because I'm the oldest." Said Five, shocking Reginald.

"And you've just caught me on a good day." 

Five smiled, "You know, technically, I'm older than you right now."

The bartender placed a decanter in the bar, "Cognac?" He asked.

"Just a smidge." Said Five.

Reginald spoke as he poured, "The other night you quoted Homer at me. Why?"

"You forced us all to learn it as kids. In the original Greek no less." Explained Five. Reginald passed a glass to Five, who held it up to Xylda, but she shook her head. Reginald and Five raised their glasses before having a drink. "Hmm." Five hummed at the taste, and handed it to Xylda who rolled her eyes and had a sip. "The world ends in five days if we don't get out of the timeline." Said Five.

"World's end." Said Reginald, "Paleozoic. Jurassic, and on and on."

"We can do something about this one." Argued Five.

"Man's greatest flaw; the illusion of control." 

"I need your help. All right? You're my last sane option. Otherwise, I gotta make a deal that I really don't wanna make."

"We're not naive." Stated Xylda, "Everything has an expiration date. Including humanity, but that date isn't in six days. Humanity isn't perfect, we are flawed and broken, but… a lot of us do try to do better." She said. "And the ones who try, they're the ones who deserve a chance to change humanity. Us being here takes away those chances, so we want to fix it."

"And you think you are one of these healers of humanity?"

Xylda scoffed, "No. I am definitely one of the happily flawed and broken."

"That's an interesting out look to take." Said Reginald, Xylda shrugged and took another sip from Fives glass. "I am still confused about how the seven if you came to be here in 1963. You say that it's time travel, but that is only theoretical, not practical."

"What do you know about it in practice?" Asked Five.

Reginald sighed, "I know it's skin to descending blindly into the depths of freezing waters and reappearing--"

"As an acorn." Finished Five, "Yeah."

"What transpired when you tried traveling before?" Asked Reginald, full of curiosity.

Xylda placed her hand over Fives on the bar. No matter how many times he had to explain what happened it pained him each and every time. The action did not go unnoticed by Reginald, "I botched it."

"How?" He pushed.

"I jumped too far forward, got stuck in a post-apocalyptic future for 45 years." His hand clenched around Xylda's, "Then I jumped too far backwards… except this time I brought my entire family along with me."

"Maybe your appetite is disproportionate to the size of your abilities." Theorized Reginald, "Start small. Seconds, not decades."

"Seconds?" Asked Five incredulously, "Look no offense, but I need a bit more time for what I'm trying to accomplish."

"So much can change in a matter of seconds." Stated Reginald, "One could overthrow an empire. One could fall in love. An acorn doesn't become an oak over night."

"I was really hoping you'd have more than that." He said in defeat.

"I'm sorry I can't be of more help." He said sincerely.

"I'm sorry too." Said Five confusing Reginald, "I gave you such a hard time as a kid." Reginald looked at Five with a little respect, "But I didn't know any better."

"Hmm." He smiled a little, "It's no skin off my teeth… old man."

Five sighed and downed his drink, "It's time to go." Xylda nodded and the two got up to leave.

"It was a pleasure meeting you both." Said Reginald, raising his glass towards them. Five and Xylda left without a word.

"What are we going to do now?" Asked Xylda, she shivered at the cold air of the night.

"We accept the Handlers deal, but on our own terms." He said.

"Which are?"

"Do you think Elliott has a tape recorder?" Xylda raised an eyebrow.

**Time Jump!**

Five knocked on the motel door with Xylda next to him. When the Handler opened the door she was wearing a smile, "Ah! You're both just in time for a nightcap." She walked over to a drinks trolley and Xylda closed the door behind her. The Handler eyed Xylda, "I see you brought your bodyguard. I don't know whether to be impressed or insulted." She held a glass out for Five, but he didn't take it.

"To be clear… I take out the board… you get me and my family home. "No more Doomsday, no more apocalypse. Is that correct?"

The Handler walked to her bed and proceeded to lounge on her side, "That's the deal."

He nodded, "Then I'm in."

The Handler smirked and held up a slip of paper. Taking it Five read the location, _The Lonely Lodge Inn, Oshkash, Wisconsin, 1982._

**End of Chapter 6**


	7. "Oga for Oga"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: The Handler smirked and held up a slip of paper. Taking it Five read the location, The Lonely Lodge Inn, Oshkash, Wisconsin, 1982.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. I also want to remind everyone reading this, that while Five and Xylda may look thirteen they are actually 58 and 30 respectively. 
> 
> Note: Sorry for the short chapter

**“Oga For Oga”**

Xylda and Five approached the  _ Lonely Lodge Inn _ , which was apparently in the middle of a festival. “Remember to stick to the plan.”

“I know. You’re sure you can do this? You’ve got the hard part after all.” she asked, gently.

“It’s just a means to an end. I can handle it, don’t you worry.” Five held the door of the lobby open for her.

“Impossible. I’ll always worry about you.”

Five smiled at her before spotting an employee of the Inn, “Excuse me?”

“ _ Uff da. _ ” exclaimed the woman, “You snuck up on me there.” she said in a thick Wisconsin accent, “If you’re looking for the cookies, we don’t put ‘em out till 3:00.”

“Oooh, what kind?” asked Xylda eagerly.

“We can hardly wait.” said Five before the woman could answer Xylda, making her pout. “Uh, do you happen to know where the Midwest Soybean Society is meeting?” he asked.

“Sure do.” said the woman with a smile, she pointed down a hallway, “Muskellunge Banquet Room. Are you two looking for your mom? She in for the convention?”

“Thank you.” said Xylda and the two walked away in the direction of the Board of Directors meeting. Reaching the double doors Five spotted a fire axe on the wall and grabbed it, she smiled and kissed his cheek,  _ “Dă-le dracu, iubirea mea.” _

She followed him down the hall, “Let’s move on to article 17, please.” said a man. Xylda met Five’s eyes and leaned against the hallway wall as he entered. “You!”

“What’s he doing--”

“Call security!” yelled a man. Xylda heard the thwack of the axe and a woman’s cries of pain, “No!”

Xylda relaxed in the hallway as she heard the sounds of Five’s spatial jumps and carnage. When the employee from the lobby came down the hall Xylda smiled, the woman paused for a second before narrowing her eyes and running at her. Xylda rolled her eyes and when the woman reached her, she sidestepped her, grabbed the back of her head and snapped her neck. The woman crumpled to the ground in a heap, she wasn’t dead, but she wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. Hearing only silence from the banquet room Xylda dragged the woman inside the room and shut the doors.

Xylda’s eyes widened at the sight that greeted her when she turned around, the walls, floor and the table were covered in the blood of the bodies that littered the room. One even hung from the ceiling, and Five was standing proudly on the table holding the axe and covered head to toe in blood.  _ “Ești cu adevărat un om impresionant, Cinci. Nu este de mirare de ce Handler are hots pentru tine.” _

Five scoffed, “Only in her demented dreams.”

Xylda watched two hands appear on the end of the table before a glass bowl that seemed to be attached to a human body rose from under the table. “She sent you didn’t she?”

Xylda smiled, “Funny you should mention the Handler.” She mused locking the door and stepping over the dead bodies of the board members, she placed the phone back on the receiver and Five made himself comfortable by sitting down on the table. When the fish tank man got up Five kicked him in the stomach making him grunt in pain and land in the chair behind him. “Now, now.” Admonished Xylda, “What’s the rush? We came all this way to talk to you and you want to run away?”

“Whatever she’s offering you, I will double it, triple it.” Pleaded the fish.

“We’re not doing this for money.” said Xylda, sitting on the table next to Five. “But we’re not naive or stupid to believe that she’ll keep her end of the deal, which is why we’re really here.” 

She pulled a small tape recorder out of her pocket and pressed play,  _ “‘To be clear… I take out the board… you get me and my family home. No more Doomsday, no more apocalypse. Is that correct?’” _ rang out Five’s voice.

_ “‘That's the deal.’" _ said the Handler.

_ “‘Then I'm in.’” _ said Five.

“That bitch!” snarled the fish, “I should have known she’d do something like this when we demoted her.”

“Demoted?” asked Five incredulously. “You demoted her?”

“Of course! After her numerous failings concerning the 2019 apocalypse we had no choice.” said the Fish.

Xylda saw the thunderous expression on Five’s face and caressed his clenched jaw, “It doesn’t matter why she wants you dead, all that matters is that you listen to our offer.”

“I’m listening.” said the Fish.

“It’s simple really. You make good on the offer the Handler gave us with one addition.” She leaned in close to the fish, making both Five and the Fish tense, “The Commission calls off the hit on Five and our family.”

“If thats’ all you want, then why did you kill the other Board Members?”

Xylda’s feral smile was mirrored by Five, “To make a very clear point. If you renege on this deal we will finish what we started here today. This is what Five is capable of on his own, do you honestly want to see what it’s like when you add myself or our siblings into the mix?”

The Fish hummed and his real body moved back and forth to look between Five and Xylda, as he considered the offer. “You do realize this won’t work if she doesn’t find my corpse.”

“I’m sure we can arrange something.” said Five his finger pressing record on the tape recorder.

“So do we have a deal?” asked Xylda, “We take down the Handler and you’ll call off your hitmen, send us and our family back to 2019 where you will call off the apocalypse and let humanity live on?”

“I, A.J Carmichael, agree to this deal between myself, Five and Xylda Hargreeves and swear to uphold my end of the bargain.” he declared.

Five smirked, “Then we’re in agreement.” he stopped the recorder, “Now… It’s your turn A.J.”

“Huh?” Five swung the axe.

**Time Jump!**

Five and Xylda waited in the alley outside Elliot’s place for the Handler to arrive. Seeing how tired he looked Xylda wrapped her arms around his shoulders, being careful of the water filled plastic bag in her hand and brought him into a deep kiss. Neither cared about the blood covering Five, he squeezed her around the waist, one hand going to her hip and the other crawling up her back as the kiss became more passionate. Pulling away for breath Xylda smiled and licked his lips making his pupils grow wider.

“Aww, well isn’t this sweet.” cooed the Handler as she click-clacked her way over to the pair. Five squeezed Xylda when she growled at the Handler, and they dropped their arms to face her. “Well?” she asked. Xylda held out the plastic bag and the Handler’s eyes widened in glee and she gasped, “AJ!” Cackling she put down the briefcase and grabbed the bag to bring it to her face. She smiled at Five and looked him up and down, “You know, you’re really starting to fill out those tight little shorts of yours.” She looked at AJ and giggled. Looking back at the pair she frowned slightly, “Why so quiet? I thought you’d be buzzing after this morning’s slaughter?” She then quirked an eyebrow, “Or did you two already get rid of all that excess energy?”

Neither answered but Five did speak up, “All this killing… I’m done with it.” he declared. 

“What?” asked the Handler, “Am I supposed to take that seriously? To believe that after all the… extras we gave you that you didn’t enjoy killing all those board members? That you weren’t excited when the blood stopped flying and you saw your work?”

“What I did today I did for my family.” he stated firmly. “I did it to save the world.”

The Handler scoffed, “Please. Spare me your little assassin with the heart of gold routine, will you?” She bent down and picked up the briefcase, “Here. Per our agreement, this will get you and your siblings back to 2019.” Five took the briefcase, “You have 90 minutes.”

“What?” asked Xylda, as a bell tolled in the distance, “You said nothing about a time limit.”

The Handler looked at her watch, “Actually, you have 89 minutes and 30 seconds. Better hurry.”

“This is impossible, okay? My siblings are scattered across the city.”

“Nothings  _ impossible _ .” Countered the Handler, “You proved that this morning when you killed the board.”

“We need more time.” said Xylda.

“Any more time, and people will start asking questions. The sooner you get home and out of this time period, the better off we’ll both be, so ticktock, ticktock.” Frowning Five grabbed Xylda’s hand and spatial walked them away and to the front of Elliott’s shop.

“She seemed to buy it.” said Xylda.

“Yeah, but the trick is making sure she doesn’t catch on until it’s too late.”

“Which requires us to trust a fish.” She looked down at the briefcase Five clutched, “What are the chances that that either blows up or takes us back to the exact moment we traveled to the 1960’s and we end up being vaporized?”

“98.9%. Now we have to make it look like we’re trying to leave and that means gathering everyone.” he said as they entered the shop. 

Xylda froze, “I smell blood.” She and Five looked down to see a message written in blood. “Shit.” She cursed as she read it. They rushed up the stairs to find a sheet covered body on a chair. Five put down the briefcase to pull back the sheet to find Elliott dead, and judging by the state of his face, he had been tortured first.

“Damn.” cursed Five.

“Poor Elliott.” She reached forward and closed his eyes before Five covered him back up. They could hear Luther and Diego at the phone and Five took the time to hide the briefcase.

“You killed one of ours, Olga, now we’re coming after you.” threatened Diego. “You will be dead by nightfall.”

Xylda rolled her eyes, “Hey.” She said, getting their attention, “It’s  _ Oga for Oga _ , idiots.” 

“It’s Swedish for ‘an eye for an eye.’” Five explained as she came to stand next to Xylda and began removing his cardigan. “It means the Swedes killed Elliott.”

Realizing their mistake Diego smiled, “Wrong number. Have a lovely day.” Hanging up he looked to Luther, “We would've gotten there.” He whispered.

“Eventually.” Agreed Luther. When he saw Five’s state he frowned, “Uh, you have some blood on you.” he said awkwardly.

“A lot of blood actually.” corrected Diego.

Five rolled his eyes, “Really, I hadn’t noticed.” He walked out to clean himself up, shutting the bathroom door behind him.

“Is he okay?” asked Diego as Luther went to knock on the door.

“No. But we don’t have time to explain, you and Luther need to get dressed. Now.” She declared.

“Wait wh--”

“Now Diego.” she ordered shoving him towards the room he had been sleeping in. “You too Luther.” Thankfully Luther listened and went to his bag to get a clean shirt.

She sighed and walked to the bathroom to knock gently, “It’s me Five.” She heard the click of the lock, she entered and locked the door behind her.

His shirt and tie were off and he was scrubbing roughly at the blood of his shirt collar in the sink. She didn’t say anything she just stepped up behind him and hugged him, pressing her cheek to his back. His shoulders shook as silent tears dripped down his cheeks, but he kept scrubbing.

“She wasn’t wrong.” he whispered. Xylda remained silent, “About enjoying what I did… It felt so… damn good.” Xylda felt the shudder of pleasure that shot down his spine as he thought about what he did.

_ “Cat de bine?” _ she asked, petting his stomach muscles.

He groaned and stopped scrubbing to clutch the edges of the sink, “ _ Îți amintești pentru prima dată când ne-am sărutat?” _ She nodded against his back,  _ “Așa se simțea înainte, dar astăzi ... singurul lucru cu care aș putea să-l compar este sentimentul de a cumming în interiorul tău.” _ He said honestly. 

_ “ _ And that scares you. _ ” _ It wasn’t a question.

“That darkness scares you because it feels like it's a part of you, but also like something that just crawled inside of you when you weren't looking and now it just won't go away. No matter what you do.”

“Yeah.” He snorted, "Guess I'm more of a sick fuck than I thought." He resumed scrubbing and was happy to see that the red was becoming a pale pink.

"You want to hear something even more sick?"

"Sure."

She leaned up to whisper in his ear, " _ Când te-am văzut stând acolo în masă, ținând toporul și acoperit cu sânge, tot ce voiam să fac era să mă ridic în genunchi pentru tine." _ She bit his ear and his hands slowed down, " _ Intelegi? Acea bucată de întuneric din interiorul meu credea că ești un zeu și voia ca eu să te închin." _ One of her hands drifted down from his stomach to palm his bulge, " _ Dar asta nu este partea bolnavă. Partea bolnavă este că și eu mi-am dorit asta. _ " Five groaned and pushed his hips into her hand, as his clutched the sink again. She smiled and licked his neck, her spine shivering at the taste of blood, "So I guess we're both just a couple of sick fucks."

"We don't have time for this." He said through his teeth as his shaking hands went back to scrubbing the last of the blood out. Xylda kept rubbing him through his shorts, "Not to mention that Luther and Diego are just outside."

"Yeah, but… you're not thinking about earlier now are you, hmm?"

Five shook his head with a chuckle and turned the sink off to ring out his shirt. Xylda snagged his tie from the sink and did the same. When the shirt was dry enough Five turned around to put it on, Xylda hummed and used her long tongue to lick a stripe up from his navel to his Adams apple, "Behave."

"Never." She promised and kissed him. Pulling away she sighed, "I'll go get your cardigan, old man." When she turned away he decided to get some payback and surprised Xylda with a smack to her ass. 

She whirled around with wide eyes, "Did you just--" he winked at her and she narrowed her eyes then walked out to retrieve his last article of clothing.

**Quick Squick!**

"I got us a way home." Said Five as he put on his tie.

Luther was finishing getting dressed, "What? How?" He asked.

"The details are irrelevant." Five dismissed, "All you need to know is I made a deal to get us all back to our limeline."

"What about Doomsday?" Asked Diego.

"Won't happen." Said Xylda.

"And the 2019 apocalypse?" 

"Everything will go back to normal, all right? Now no more questions." Xylda held out his cardigan for him and he pulled it on. "We got to go. We gotta find the others right? Luther you get Allison."

"Okay."

"Diego you get Klaus."

"That leaves us to get Vanya." 

Five nodded, "And we meet back in the arrival alley. In 77 minutes." Xylda handed Luther and Diego a watch.

"I've synchronized these."

"Okay, let's do this." Said Luther strapping the watch to his wrist.

"Woah, woah, woah. You show up drenched in blood and expect us to believe that everything's gonna go back to normal if we go home now?"

"Elliott just got killed, because of us." Said Five gesturing to the sheet covered corpse.

"What about dad?" Diego stepped forward, "What about JFK?"

"That's history Diego." Said Xylda, "It happened already and the world didn't end."

"It hasn't happened already. It's happening now and we can stop it." He said firmly.

"Diego, we have the opportunity to go home and make things right. We are taking it before we get anyone else killed." 

Diego looked down and reluctantly nodded, "I have to say goodbye to Lila."

Five threw up his hands, "Lila doesn't give a shit about you Diego! She never did! She's a member of the Commission who was using you to get close to me." Diego looked crushed, "You're the Oswald of this story, my friend. The goddamn Patsy."

"You don't know what you're talk--"

Five got right in Diego's face with a menacing look, "If you don't do this, I'll kill you myself." He threatened, "Got it?" He and Diego stared at one another before Five grabbed Xylda's hand and jumped them out.

Appearing outside Xylda gave him a look, "That was a little much don't you think?"

He looked up and down the street for a suitable car, "They can't know the plan and they have to think this is our only option." He strolled up to a parked car on the street and spatula walked into the driver's seat. Reaching over he unlocked the door and Xylda climbed in.

Using a knife he jammed it into the ignition key and used it to turn it and start the car. "We're playing with fire Five. We need a back up plan."

"Agreed." He said, pulling the car out into the street.

"We need another briefcase and I'm guessing the only other one we could get our hands on would be the Swedes, but according to the message they left, they're pissed we killed their brother." 

"Yeah well I would be too, but if AJ keeps his end of the deal he'll call them off."

"If someone killed one of our siblings or me and you were ordered off the job before you could get revenge would you stop going after them?"

"All right, so the Swedes are still in play no matter what we do." Xylda smiled, "The Handler currently thinks everything's going according to her plan and that she's won. We have to make sure she keeps thinking that so that AJ can take her down." Her brow furrowed, "What?x he asked in concern.

"I feel bad for Diego." Five scoffed, "I'm serious. Lila really screwed with his heart, Five."

"He'll get over it. He's not nearly as pathetic as you think he is."

Xylda gave Five an affronted look, "I don't think he's pathetic!" Five gave her a  _ 'really' _ look, "I just know he began burying himself under the tough guy persona dad wanted him to be." She frowned, "And that bitch made him feel like his real self."

"She's not the only one to blame." Said Five, "Diego let her get under his skin."

"He didn't know she was Commission." She defended.

"He shouldn't have fallen in love with someone in the 1960's. He doesn't belong here and he knew he would be leaving. And neither should have Allison, for that matter. And don’t even get me started on Klaus’s cult.”

“You’re being too hard on them. They didn’t understand that we were just split up, not dead.”

“They shouldn’t have given up searching for the others so easily.”

“But they didn’t all arrive in the same year.” She pointed out, “Diego and Vanya were lucky to arrive only months apart. And you can’t blame Vanya for not searching, she could hardly look for siblings she didn’t know she had.”

“Okay. Then what about Diego’s picture being in the newspaper?” he challenged, “There’s no internet, so if they want to keep up with what’s going on they’d need to read the newspaper. So why didn’t they go and see him? Maybe get him out?” She cuddled up to his side as he drove and he took one hand off the wheel to wrap it around her shoulders.

“I don’t know.” she said, “So let’s focus on what we do know. 1.) The Handler was demoted after her failure and decided to take over the Commission.”

“2.) She sent Lila, her daughter who can somehow teleport, to get close to Diego in the hopes of getting to me.”

“3.) The Handler planned for me to kill the board of directors in exchange for saving our family and stopping the apocalypse in 2019.”

“4.) She then appeared to give us what we wanted only to make it impossible for us to accomplish.”

“5.) AJ is alive and gathering the necessary force to get rid of the Handler once and for all.” Xylda smiled at how Five seemed to relax at laying out everything so simply, “Now for the theories.”

He nodded, “Okay. The Handler is most likely the one who told the Swedes where we were…”

“Courtesy of Lila.” She added.

“Exactly. So she wants us all dead and keeping us here is a part of her plan.” He frowned, “So we need to get our hands on another briefcase, but we need to keep our distance from the Swedes.”

“Do you know of another field agent that is here or comes here in the next few days?” He tensed which made her frown, “Five?”

“There’s… one who will be here on the 22.” he said slowly.

“Who?”

He sighed, “Me. Old man me, I mean.”

Xylda smiled, “Really?”

Five frowned at her tone, “Don’t even think about it.”

“What?” she asked innocently, his look clearly stated he didn’t buy it. “You can’t blame me for wanting to meet you looking your proper age. The brief look I got was blurry at best and from the small glimpse I got, you’re very cute.”

Five looked a little insulted, “Old me is the physical embodiment of the Four Horseman! I--I -- I’m--”

“Very adorable.” She stated, kissing his cheek, “Oh, come on, don’t pout. No matter how deadly you are or how old you get, you’ll always be adorable to me.”

When Five came around a corner of the road, a car was turning in the opposite direction. Looking at the driver they saw that it was Vanya and she saw them as well. Five and Vanya pulled both cars to a stop and got out of the car, “What are you doing here?” asked Vanya coming up to the two.

“Looking for you.” said Five, “We’re going back to 2019.”

Vanya frowned, “What are you talking about?”

“Look, I don’t really have time to explain right now, but I found a way home. All right? We have 30 minutes to leave.”

“What about my friends? I can’t just leave them here.” she asked.

Five’s jaw clenched, even though they were only pretending like they were leaving it still irked him that their siblings kept questioning him, “Vanya, you don’t have a choice in this, all right? Doomsday will happen if you don’t come with us and they’ll die.”

“Okay, then I’m bringing them with me.” she stated.

“They belong here, Vanya.” said Xylda.

“Says who?” she demanded, “Sissy deserves a life where she doesn’t have to pretend to be someone she’s not.” Five scoffed, “And Harlan? There’s a name for what he has. We can get him the help he needs.”

“Vanya…” He said gently.

“Look, a mom and her eight year old son are not gonna screw up the timeline, Five!” she shouted, “They’re insignificant.”

His eyes narrowed, “No one is insignificant.” Vanya and Xylda both heard the pain in his voice when he said that, though only Xylda understood where it came from. “I’m sorry, all right? But we can’t take that risk. They have to stay.”

“Why do you get to decide? You’re the reason we’re stuck here in the first place.”

“Vanya, that's not fair. Five was saving us.”

“And if I had done nothing, we would all be dead right now, thanks to  _ you _ .” Xylda smacked his arm hard.

“Because of the Commission.” she corrected.

Vanya’s face became determined, “They’re coming with me.” she said firmly.

Five glared at her, “Vanya, do not  _ test _ me right now.” he said darkly.

Vanya smirked, which made Xylda feel uneasy, “That’s funny. ‘Cause I was about to say the same thing.” Xylda heard the tell-tale ringing of Vanya’s powers as she began to glow a blueish color and her eyes turned white. Five in response gathered the energy he used to make his jumps in his hands. The two stared each other down for a minute until Vanya’s powers died away, “Fine.” she said numbly.

“‘Fine,’ what?” he asked.

“I’ll be there, but I need to say good-bye first.”

He gave her a sad look, “Oh, Vanya, we don’t have the time.”

“Well, it’s either that, or I’m not coming.”

Five scoffed and Xylda took a hold of his arm, “Okay. Just be quick, Vanya.” Vanya nodded and headed back to the car.

“The alley.” he called, “Don’t be late.”

**Quick Squick!**

Xylda waited in the alley as Five jumped upstairs to get the briefcase, she wasn’t surprised to see no one was there yet and she wasn’t worried, it didn’t matter if they all got here anyway. They weren’t using the Handlers briefcase, it was too risky.

Five reappeared in the alley as Luther entered, “Hey.” He looked around, “Where is everyone?”

Five smiled, “You’re the first.” Xylda rolled her eyes at the bad joke.

“What?” asked Luther.

“Yeah.”

They all watched Klaus rush around the corner out of breath, “Hey-- Hey.” He panted out, “We made it.”

“What do you mean, ‘We’?” asked Five.

Klaus nodded, “Yeah, I’m-- I’m Ben.” All three sets of eyes widened.

“Ben?” asked Xylda in shock. Klaus’s head nodded and she launched herself at him, making him grunt, but he hugged her back just as tightly.

“Well, that explains how Klaus made it here before Diego, Allison or Vanya.” commented Luther.

“We’ve got eight minutes left.” said Five, “Where are the others?”

**Meanwhile**

Diego came too slowly, “Diego Hargreeves....” He heard Lila say, making him tense and open his eyes to find him sitting in front of a desk in an office across from a woman with white hair and a purple and gold version of a general's uniform smoking from a cigarette holder. “... meet my mother.” his eyes widened, “Mother, this is Diego… my boyfriend.” 

His head snapped to the side to look at Lila, “What?” he asked, Lila smirked.

**Back to Luther, Klaus, Five and Xylda**

“We’ve got a minute left.” said Luther slamming his fist down on top of the dumpster. “I can’t believe this. We just blew our chance to save the world.”

A high pitched whirring sound came from the briefcase, Five groaned, “God damn it.”

“Shit.” said Luther as Five grabbed the briefcase and hurled it up into the air where it disappeared in a blue vortex in a blink. “We were that close.” said Luther in defeat, “That close.” Xylda and Five shared a subtle nod, everything was going according to plan.

**End of Chapter 7**


	8. "The Seven Stages"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: “We were that close.” said Luther in defeat, “That close.” Xylda and Five shared a subtle nod, everything was going according to plan.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. I also want to remind everyone reading this, that while Five and Xylda may look thirteen they are actually 58 and 30 respectively. 

**“The Seven Stages”**

“Now what?” asked Luther.

Five gave Luther an exasperated look, “Now nothing, Luther, all right? Make your peace with god.” Five looked at Xylda, his look asking, ‘ _ too much?’ _ she nodded.

“What about Allison and Vanya?”

“And Diego.” said Klaus/Ben, “Something must have happened to them.”

“Look, let’s all get inside.” said Xylda, “We should call Allison and Vanya to let them know we’re still here.”

“What about Diego?” aside Luther.

“He’ll turn up, eventually.” grumbled Five, marching over to the alley door of Elliott’s apartment with his siblings following after him. Entering the apartment Five marched straight to the room he and Xylda had been sharing, slamming the door shut he locked it.

Luther sighed and walked over to the door and knocked on it, “Hey! Five, Doomsday is still coming. We gotta think of a new plan.”

Xylda touched his arm, “Let him cool off, Luther. We need to call Allison and Vanya.” She pulled him away from the door and over to the phone in the kitchen, she was just about to pick it up and dial the operator when it rang. She and Luther glanced at each other in uncertainty, so Ben/Klaus rolled his eyes and answered it.

“Hello?” his face scrunched up in worry, “Woah, woah. Slow down Allison, what happened?” His eyes widened, “Two blonde men attacked you and Ray at your place?”

Xylda yanked the phone out of his hands, “Are you okay?” she asked.

_ “Yeah. I managed to Rumor one to kill the other, but now there’s a dead body in my living room and Ray is freaking out. If the police show up it won’t be good for them to find a dead white man on my couch.” _

Xylda bit her lip, “We’ll get over as fast as we can and help get rid of the body. Just keep Ray from giving himself a heart attack.”

_ “Hurry.” _ she said.

Xylda hung up, “We need to get to Allisons, now. Five!” she shouted.

“Wait, Xylda! What body?” Ben/Klaus explained it to Luther as Five’s door swung over brandishing aknife.

“What--”

“The Swedes attacked Allison.” she said, “She managed to kill one but now the body is now in her living room.”

His eyes widened and he put away the knife, “I’m driving.”

It was dark out when they pulled to a stop in front of Allison’s house, they all quickly disembarked from the car and rushed to the front door, Luther being the last after wrestling himself out of the back. Ben/Klaus knocked and it took a moment before Ray peaked through the curtains of the glass panel of the door. Ben/Klaus waved at him and Ray saw the rest of them standing behind him.

He unlocked the door, but opened it only a crack, “You guys, now is really not the time for a family reunion. When Ben/Klaus looked past Ray to see Allison he pushed past Ray, “Allison!” He hugged her tightly as the rest of them pushed into the home. “I was so worried about you. Thank god you two are okay.”

Five and Xylda examined the body on the couch, “Guess this means there is only one left.” said Xylda. She could see the purpling bruises on his throat and rubbed her own, “Yeesh, strangulation. Been there.”

“So are we burning or burying?” he asked.

“Both.” She looked at the ground, “If we can wrap him in the rug you can get him to the car and we can find a good spot to dispose of him without anyone coming by.”

“Sounds like a plan.” he said, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his cardigan.

“I’ll move the body.” said Luther, pulling out of his hug with Allison.

Xylda turned to a shocked Ray, “Do you have any rope or twine?” she asked.

Ray looked between all the siblings as Xylda and Five moved the coffee table and Luther effortlessly picked up the body and placed it on the end of the rug as Ben/Klaus cleaned the blood from Allison’s face. “Um, I think so.” He shook his head as he walked away dumbly to get the desired material.

Ben/Klaus watched him go with a smile, “He seems nice.”

Alison gave him a strange look, “Yeah…”

“That’s not, Klaus.” Allison’s brow furrowed in confusion. “It’s Ben.” said Luther. Allison’s eyes widened and Ben waved at her.

“Hey, sis.” 

She yanked him into a tight hug and tears fell from her eyes, “Oh, my god.”

Ray returned with the rope, Xylda took it and handed one end to Five to help get it under the rug, with Luther lifting the body, “You guys got a lot of practice with this?” he asked in shock, watching as efficiently they moved together.

Five’s lips quirked into a smile, “I told you, ‘violent tendencies’.” Xylda giggled.

Ray held his hands up, “I-- I need a drink.”

“Better make that six drinks.” said Allison.

**Meanwhile with Diego**

“Are you kidding me?” demanded the Handler.

“You said I could hire my own team.” said Lila.

“Yes, but I didn’t mean him for gods sake.” Diego looked back and forth between the two women. “If you don’t see the problem with hiring you-know-who’s brother then you’re not ready for that badge.”

“Look, I’m sorry, but I really need to go.” said Diego.

“Shut up/Shut up!”

“I can’t do this job if you don’t trust my instincts.”

“Sweetheart, your vagina needs glasses. He is not worth it.”

“Mum! Oh my god.” exclaimed Lila in embarrassment. “This may shock you, but not everyone here likes you.”

“Sounds ridiculous, but go on.” She said entwining her fingers together.

“You need fresh blood loyal to us and not the old regime.” explained Lila, “I’ve seen Diego in the field. He is so much better trained than most of the assholes here.” Instead of being moved by the compliment Diego felt anger. “Why waste that when we can use it?” Seeing that her mother was completely convinced she added, “He’ll be my personal responsibility.”

The Handler opened her cigarette case, “You know, your brother Five and I… we have quite… a colorful history.”

“My brother has beef with everybody. Me included.” said Diego. His mind was going a mile a minute. He had the opportunity to not only get a briefcase, but to find out how to help his siblings. If this was the woman Five called the Handler, then he couldn’t afford to take a misstep if he wanted to help and return to his family. 

“Let me ask you something.” said the Handler lighting her cigarette and taking a drag, “When you’re looking down the barrel of a gun, where do your loyalties lie, with your family or your principals?”

“With me.” he answered. “I don’t belong to anybody. Especially Lila.”

The Handler smiled, “Well, that I can work with. Run him through orientation, fill out his start paperwork.” Lila smiled widely, “But… If he ruffles even one feather, you will kill him yourself. Understood?”

“Thanks, Mum.” The Handler shrugged and Lila led Diego out of the office.

“It’s a really big place. Do not get lost.” she said, leading him to the stairs.

“Or what? You’ll kill me?” said Diego.

Lila smiled, “Oh, you still mad about that, you big baby?”

“No, I love being drugged and kidnapped and threatened with murder.” He said sarcastically.

“Okay, well, let’s just make sure you’re the best agent possible, and no one has to worry about who kills who, okay?”

“Wait, Lila. I need to get out of here.” He said bringing them to a stop in the corner.

“Relax.”

“No, I do not have time for this now.”

She smirked, “We have all the time in the world. She walked away and Diego followed.

“What is it you people do here, exactly?”

“Oh, that’s the best part.” She said, “We protect the timeline. You know all that lone wolf superhero shit? Tiny taters compared to what you could do here.”

He grabbed her arm, “Hold up, ‘tiny taters’, so the Commission controls time? Like everything in time?”

“Or more like we maintain the correct timeline, but basically, yeah.”

“How the shit do you do that?”

She smiled and took his hand, “Well, come on, I’ll show you.” she led him down a series of hallways to a dark classroom with an old fashioned projector on, “Dropping off a new recruit.” she announced walking into the room. 

A women dressed in a pencil skirt suit greeted them with a stern smile, “Welcome to orientation.” She handed a packet to Lila, “Take this.”

Diego followed LIla to an empty desk, “Wait a second--”

“Open your welcome package and grab a seat.” ordered the stern woman. “All questions will be answered at the end of the film.”

“How long is this?” he asked Lila.

“Sit your ass down.” said the instructor.

He rolled his eyes, dropped the package on the desk and took his seat, “Uh…” Lila leaned on the desk, “I really need this to work, so… don’t screw it up.” Diego said nothing so Lila fidgeted awkwardly, “Okay, bye.” She leaned down and kissed him, shocking him.

When she left the film began and Diego had to stifle his laughter at how ridiculous it was. It reminded him of the old films shown in school about driving, health and sex. Though he stopped and leaned forward in his seat when it explained what the Infinite Switchboard was. Looking at the instructor he saw that she was asleep and took his chance to leave and find it.

It took some time, making sure that he avoided the guards as much as he could, but he eventually found it. Thankfully it was empty, “Bingo, the infinite switchboard.” He took a seat and examined the machine. “All right.” he popped his knuckles, “How hard can this be.” He picked up one plug and plugged it into one port without incident, but when he plugged in the other end there was a spark that stung his hand, “Ah!” He reeled back in his chair and held his hand closely.

When a hand grabbed his shoulder, he instinctively grabbed the hand and whirled around with a knife in his hand. The short man coward in fear as Diego held the blade to his throat, “Oh! Please don’t hurt me.”

“Who the hell are you?” demanded Diego.

“I’m Herb.” he panted, “I’m an analyst.”

“I’m Diego. I have a knife.”

Herb trembled, “Yes, I can see.” He gulped, “It’s very shiny.” Diego looked Herb up and down and deciding he wasn’t a threat, released the man. “Oh.” Herb sighed in relief.

“Breathe.” said Diego.

Herb nodded and took some deep breaths before speaking, “It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Hargreeves.”

Diego’s brow furrowed, “You know me?” 

“Everybody knows you.” said Herb with a smile, “I mean, you’re Number Two. You’re a legend.” Diego preened a little at that. 

“Really?”

Herb frowned, “Mr. Hargreeves you can’t be in here.”

“Herb, is that any way to talk to a legend?” Herb shook his head, “You know how to work this puppy?”

Herb smiled proudly, “I’m certified to operate the ISB, yes.”

Diego smiled, “Good. I need you to look up a date: November 22, 1963, the assassination of John F. Kennedy.”

Herb shook his head, “Unauthorized use of the Infinite Switchboard is a clear violation of company protocol 67D--”

“Don’t be such a tight ass.” 

“You don’t understand.” said Herb, “There’s been a coup d’etat.”

“What’s that?”

“The Handler has taken over the Commission. The whole place has gone to heck in a handbasket, and people are disappearing.” He said frantically, “They would kill us both if they caught us in here.”

“Wll, you better get started before they come get us.”

Herb bit his lip nervously, “One quick look, and then you gotta go.”

Diego smiled and moved to make room for Herb, “My man.”

Diego watched Herb work, “Oh, no. Why would you… No, no, bad.” As he adjusted wires the machine whirred to life. Diego waited patiently as Herb moved to the console and messed with some knobs, “Here we go.” he said and Diego stood from his seat to lean in close to the monitor. “Dalla, November 22, 1963.”

Diego watched the screen in fascination, “This is it. This is right before the assassination.”

“Assassination?” asked Herb.

“Pay attention. The president is about to turn into Dealey Plaza. One more turn into Elm and they’re gonna start shooting.” When an explosion happened on a floor of a building in the background, both Herb and Diego frowned, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What the hell is that?”

“That’s the FBI building.” said Herb.   
“Yeah, but why the ell did it just blow up?”

“That’s not supposed to happen.” said Herb.

“No that’s not supp-- He’s driving away. They didn’t kill him?” His eyes widened at what he saw.

“Oh… Oy, that’s  _ no bueno. _ ” said Herb.

“Xylda was right. It wasn’t a gunshot on the film, but an explosion.” They watched broadcasts declare a nuclear war and watched the world explode, “That’s what Hazel was trying to tell us.”

“Hazel?’ asked Herb.

“I mean if this is doomsday… Do you have another angle on the FBI building?” 

Herb fiddled with some knobs and switches, “Watch this… And…”

Diego frowned when he saw his sister, “Vanya.” She thrummed with power as she flew into the air. “I need to get back to Dallas, now.”

Herb smiled, “We need  _ La Resistance. _ ” he declared. Herb quickly shut down the ISB and led Diego to another room deep within the Commission.

There was a group of people sitting around a round table an chattering with… A man with a dome filled with water and a fish in place of a head. They all quieted down and got up to face the two, “You gotta be kidding me.” said Diego.

“I know we don’t look like much, but we’re resourceful.” defended Herb.  
“Don’t mess with case management.” warned one woman in glasses.

“Stand down, Dot.” said Herb

“Mr. Hargreeves, we’ve been expecting you.” said the Fish, “My name is AJ and you and I have a lot to discuss.”

**Back with Luther, Allison, Ben/Klaus, Five and Xylda**

Five, Xylda and Luther finished wrapping up the body, as daylight began streaming into the house. “Okay, now that that’s done let’s go bury this asshole.”

“You got any shovels, sis?’ asked Ben/Klaus.

When a familiar cracking sound filled the room Xylda tensed and Five drew a blade as two people landing in the living room. Xylda and Five reacted quickly, tackling the man in the suit to the ground, Xylda was poised over him in a crouch transformed with the tip of her tail at his throat, while Five was standing over Diego who was sprawled on his back groaning in pain.

“Five what the hell!” complained Diego.

Five winced, “Sorry, Diego.” he offered his brother a hand and hoisted him to his feet.

Diego looked over to see Herb trembling underneath Xylda, “You can lay off him, Xylda. Herb’s with me.”

She didn’t budge, so Herb licked his lips and summoned his courage, “A-- A--J. AJ sent me.” Growling, Xylda pulled back her tail and got off of Herb and even offered him a claw up. Herb took it hesitantly and was hoisted to his feet, “Oh, wow.” he looked around the room in awe, “One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Eight. We almost have an Umbrella straight flush here.” He shook Xylda’s claw vigorously, “And I must say it is an honor to meet all of you. Especially you Five, wow. Just wait until the typing pool hears about this.” 

Allison sighed seeing her husband’s wide eyed stare, “Ray, this is my other brother, Diego.”

Finally noticing the cowering man Diego walked up to him, “Hey, man. Sorry to crash in here like this.” He held out his hand to shake, which ray accepted slowly and let go of quickly. Diego didn’t seem to mind.

“What did AJ say?’ demanded Five crowding Herb and making him nervous, “Uh, well… He gathered those of us who don’t want the Handler in charge. I don’t think this would surprise  _ you _ , but no one really likes the ghastly woman.”

“Yeah, she’s got a real hard on for you, Five.” said Diego.

Xylda snorted and crossed her arms, “So I’ve noticed.”

Five sighed, “How long until she’s dead, Herb?”

Herb gulped, “Well, you see the Handler has declared that she has finished her investigation into the assassination of the Board of Directors and named you as the killer.”

“Is that true Five?” asked Allison.

“Yes.” said Five.

“That’s what all the blood was from.” muttered Luther.

“What blood?” asked Ben/Klaus.

“I didn’t kill all of them. I left one alive.” said Five.

Herb nodded, “Indeed. And Mr. Carmichael is very grateful and wishes to help as much as he can. But first you all need to stop this doomsday.”

“I know what causes it.” said Diego, pulling all of their attention to him, “It’s, Vanya.”

“Wait, What?”

“How?” asked Ben/Klaus.

“She blows up the FBI building and Dealey Plaza, just as the presidents passing through unless than one hour. We gotta find her and stop her, now.”

“Wait, Vanya kills the president?” asked Allison incredulously.

“No, no, no. See, the explosion causes the motorcade to drive off. Kennedy lives. Everybody thinks Russia is behind it, including the president. He strikes back, they strike back. Before you know it, it’s raining nukes.”

“We need to get to the FBI and stop Vanya.” said Luther.

“And we need another briefcase.” said Five, he looked at the one by Herb’s feet.

Herb adjusted his tie nervously, “Uh, you can’t have this one sir.”

Five narrowed his eyes, “Oh, really?”

“Hey.” Diego grabbed his arm, “Lay off of him, man. He’s cool.”

Herb smiled nervously and scooted to be closer to Diego, “We need another briefcase, as a back up plan, because no offense Herb, but I’m not exactly in a trusting mood when it come to the Commission.”

Herb smiled, “None taken. The Handler’s methods are definitely less than seemly.”

Five sighed, “Fine. There is another place where we can get a briefcase, though I was really hoping not to do this.”

“How?” asked Luther.

“I need to hydrate.” he said, confusing everybody and going to the kitchen. “Allison do you have any baby powder?”

“Baby powder? What the hell do you need baby powder for?”

“To help with the itching.” he said simply, grabbing a pitcher from her fridge he began to chug it.

Xylda shook her head, “Just do it.” said Xylda, “It’s less stressful that way.” Allison didn’t look to sure, but she did head off to find some baby powder.

“You want to fill us in on your plan there Five?’ asked Diego.

“I have to find myself.” he said, he looked at his watch, “I should be arriving in Dallas in 15 minutes.”

Herbs eyes widened, “Sir, you can’t be thinking of--”

“Yes, I am Herb.”

“But the Paradox Psychosis.”

“I’m well aware Herb, but your concern is duly noted.” Allison returned with the baby powder and Five proceeded to apply it.

“We need an explanation here Five.” said Luther.

“Well, if you all recall, I was sent to 1963 on a job by the Commission to make sure the president was assassinated.”

“Oh! So wait, your old self is out there.” said Ben/Klaus.

“Precisely.” said Five putting down the powder he began to stretch.

“This is not a good idea sir, the dangers are--”

“Dangers?” questioned Allison, “What dangers?”

“Ditto.” said Xylda, moving closer to Five.

“There are two significant problems with coming face to face with old me. Problem number one” I am a trained assassin, arguably the most dangerous assassin in the space-time continuum.” Diego snorted, but Herb nodded his head with the assessment, “If I know me, I’m not ging to react kindly to bumping into myself. Problem number two, and this is the real fly in the ointment here: you’re not supposed to exist in close proximity to yourself in the same timeline.”

“Why not?” asked Diego

“The side effects can be disastrous.”

“Side effects? What sort of side effects?” asked Xylda in worry.

“Well, according to  _ Commission Handbook _ Chapter 27, subsection 3b, the seven stages in Paradox Psychosis are… Stage One: Denial, Two: Itching, Three: Extreme thirst and urination, Four: Excessive gas, Five: Acute Paranoia, Six: Uncontrolled Perspiration and Seven, uh…” Herb trailed off nervously.

“Homicidal rage.” finished Five.

“Homicidal rage?” asked Luther slowly.

“Jeez, I don’t know. This may not be such a good idea.” said Luther.

“Yeah, I mean you’re already starting to get a little squirrely.” said Allison.

“And I don’t think we should risk you of all people developing any homicidal rage.” said Xylda.

“Which is why you and Luther will be going with me.” said Five.

“Um, why?” asked Luther.

“Because I need you to be my spotter and Xylda to help keep both versions of me calm, while the rest of you go and stop Vanya.” he explained.

“Spotter? What is that, like some sort of wingman?’ asked Luther.

“In case the paradox psychosis gets too severe, I need you to help me stay on task, all right? So, whatever happens, whatever I say, we need to get that briefcase.”

Luther nodded, “Okay.” He looked to his siblings, “We need to move now, if we’re gonna get this done in time.”

“Holy shit.” said Ray as he began to freak out.

Allison’s eyes widened in worry and she approached her husband gently, “Ray? Ray, baby. Are… Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay.” said Ray, “First of all this, son of a bitch beams into our living room with yet another one of your brothers, and he’s talking about stopping on of your sisters from blowing up some buildings and I got a dead man wrapped up in my best rug, babe.”

Allison tried to calm him, “Okay. Okay, okay. Can we… Can we… Raymond. Ray. Ray.”

Herb may have taken offense at being called a son of a bitch, but he did feel sorry for the overwhelmed man, “We can have the rug shampooed and we also provide body removal services.” He chuckled.

“Well, that’s convenient.” mumbled Ben/Klaus.

“Herb.” said Five, the man straightened, “Once we stop Doomsday the Handler will move fast, so you and the other’s need to move faster.”

The man smiled, “Don’t you worry, sir. We already have a plan in motion that should take away the Handler’s most powerful pawn.”

“Good.”

**Time Jump!**

Xylda and Luther followed Five into the bar, a lively Irish jig was playing and the place was decked out in decorations for the president's visit. Five looked around the room and then hid behind Luther’s large frame, “There I am.” he nodded his head toward the bar, where an old man was writing in a book and at his feet were two briefcases.

“Why don’t we just grab the briefcase and run?” suggested Luther.

“Luther, I would never let that happen.” said Five, “We’re trained to guard these briefcases with our lives.”

“Right.”

“Plus, it’s the inherent paradox where this gets tricky.” he shuffled on his feet, “I’m endangering my existence just being in the room with myself.”

“Huh-- What do you mean?”

Five groaned, “Luther try and keep up.”

“If old Five doesn’t travel back to 2019, like he’s supposed to, Five won’t end up de-aging and he won’t be there to stop Vanya, which means he won’t be there to send us all here to the 1960’s. Causing all of this to unravel in a way that would not be good. Right?” explained Xylda.

Five nodded, “Exactly. I’ll cease to exist. Got it?”

Luther didn’t but he nodded anyway, “I got it.”

“So our best chance is to talk with him, to reason with him.”

“Which is where I come in, I’m guessing?”

Five nodded, “He’ll understand. Trust me. I know myself better than, uh… better than I know myself.” He scratched his neck.

“You just itched your neck.” said Luther pointing at Fives hand which dropped abruptly. “That’s stage two of paradox psychosis.”

“No, I didn’t. I didn’t itch my neck.”

“Stage one: Denial.” said Xylda. She reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead, “And you’re perspiring.”

“Stage six.” said Luther.

“I am fine, okay?” he said firmly, “Let’s stay on task, shall we.”

Xylda nodded, and handed the handkerchief to Luther before walking up to old Five.  _ “Cinci. _ ” she said gently.

The man tensed and stopped writing. He slowly lifted his head to see her, “What did you call me?”

Xylda smiled gently and took a seat at the bar while taking off her sunglasses,  _ “Te-am chemat, Cinci, dragostea mea.” _ She slowly placed a hand on top of his, which had a white knuckled grip on his pen.

“Xylda.” he whispered in reverence. He covered her hand and she did the same, “How did you… You look… ”

She giggled and looked down at herself,  _ “Da. Bănuiesc că un beneficiu frumos al abilităților de vindecare este că procesul de îmbătrânire se oprește aproape complet.” _

He smiled at her and squeezed her hand, “How are you here?” he asked. A suspicious glint began to form in his eyes. 

_“Este bine. Totul este în regulă.”_ she said seeing how tense he was becoming, _Stage Five: Acute Paranoia._ _“Pot explica. Dar mai întâi, trebuie să vă prezint două persoane.”_ She looked behind her and waved Luther forward. He stepped forward slowly with Five hidden behind his back. Five removed one hand from Xylda and reached down for the Commission briefcase. “ _E în regulă, Cinci. Este numărul unu ... Luther.”_

Luther waved, “Hey, Five.”

“Luther…” gasped Five.

_ “Promite-mi că nu te vei dezbrăca de cea de-a doua.” _

He nodded and Luther stepped to the side to reveal younger Five. Five Senior’s eyes widened in shock, “Hey there, stranger.” said younger Five.

“Um, how about we move this to a table.” suggested Luther, he reached down to pick up the suitcase but yanked his hand back when he felt a sharp sting. “Ow!”

“You shouldn’t touch things that don’t belong to you.” admonished Five Senior. He let go of Xyldas hand and picked up the briefcase and the suitcase.

Xylda caught the bartenders attention, “Um, could we get two pints of Guinness please?” he looked skeptical, “It’s for my brother and grandfather.” she pointed a thumb over her shoulder at the table Luther secured and where the Fives were staring each other down from their sides of the table. The bartender nodded and filled two pints, which Xylda brought to the table, along with Five Seniors mostly finished pint, placing one down in front of Luther and the other young Five.

She took a seat and looked between the two Fives in apprehension, as they glowered at each other.  _ “Cinci?” _ She asked gently.

Both turned to her, “What?” They glared at each other for answering her, making her roll her eyes and looked to Luther for help.

Luther sighed, “Well…” he took a sip of his beer, “This is nice, isn’t it? The four of us, together like this?”

“No.” said both Fives.

“Somebody explain to me how it is I’m having a pint of Guinness with my younger self.”

“Older actually.” corrected younger Five, “I’m you, just 14 days older.”

“I have pubic hair smarter than you.” said Five Senior,

_ “Cinic.” _ admonished Xylda and Five Senior gave her an apologetic look, before it became stern again.

“How’s that possible?” he demanded.

“I can explain.” said younger Five, “You see, one hour from now, on the grassy knoll, before the president is killed, you break your contract with the Commission. I already know you’re thinking about it. All those years in the apocalypse, we never stopped worrying about our family. Well, today, you are going to do something about it. Today you are going to attempt to time travel forward to 2019. However you are going to screw up the jump and end up in this younger body.” Xylda reached for the younger Fives hand in comfort seeing how upset he was getting, he sighed and looked at her, “But it turns out to be a blessing rather than a curse, because we end up looking the same age as the woman we love.” Five Senior looked at Xylda who smiled at him.

“Okay. Even if I was to believe you, what am I supposed to do about it, not jump?” questioned Senior Five. Luther and Xyldas noses scrunched up at the smell of a passed gas,  _ Stage Four _ , mouthed Luther and Xylda nodded. 

“No, no. I need you to jump. If you don’t jump, I cease to exist.” He pulled at his collar and Luther held out Xylda’s handkerchief, but young Five batted it away. Xylda reached over and retrieved it. “All you need to do is leave your briefcase with us, which you no longer need. And everyone goes on existing, happily ever after.”

“That’s quite a bit to take in.” said Five Senior.

“So what do you think?” asked Luther.

“I think… I need to take a piss.” Senior Five grabbed both cases and went to the bathroom.

Young Five watched himself go and fidgeted in his seat. Seeing all the sweat on his face and brow, Xylda used her handkerchief to wipe it away, holding his face with her other hand. Five’s face was directed in the direction of his other self, “Well, besides the flop sweat, I think that went pretty well, am I right?”

Five shook his head, his eyes held a wild look in them, “No, no, there’s something… something doesn’t feel right about this.”

“What… what do you mean?” asked Luther.

“I don’t trust him.” declared Five.

“But he’s you.” pointed out Luther.

“Exactly.”

Seeing how twitchy Five was becoming Xyda looked at Luther, “You know maybe you should go keep an eye on the old man.”

Luther frowned and took a sip of his beer, “Why don’t you do it?”

She rolled her eyes, “Because he went to the mens room, Luther.”

“Oh… right. I’ll just…” He got up and headed for the men’s room.

“You shouldn’t have done that, dear.”

“Why not?” she asked gently.

He met her eyes, “Because now he’s going to try and convince Luther to kill me.”

“Why-- Why would you do that?” she asked slowly, not liking how shaky he sounded.

“Because that’s what I would do.”

She sighed, “Five… you’re suffering from stage five: acute paranoia.”

“Yeah, well if I am then so is he.” he said itching his neck. 

She petted his cheek, “Don’t worry. I won’t let him kill you.”

“He’ll kill you.”

She shook her head, “No, he’d killer Luther sure, but can you honestly say that if it came down to it, you’d hurt me? Even in homicidal rage?”

Five gulped and shook his head, “No. Never.” he narrowed his eyes, “I don’t like the way he was looking at you.” She giggled at how ridiculous that sounded. 

Senior Five and Luther returned, “We good?” asked younger Five.

“We’re good.” said Luther stiffly.

“You got a deal.” said Senior Five, “We gotta hurry. Kennedy’s on route. Less than an hour til show time.”

Younger got up and gave his senior counterpart a suspicious look, “Why are you so anxious to get going all of a sudden?”

“Relax. You’re getting paranoid.” said Senior Five.

“Oh, am I?” asked younger Five.

Luther and Xylda watched as the two twitched the same and passed gas, “Okay, let’s roll.” said Luther, really wishing to get this over with and hoping the rest of their siblings were having better luck.

Allison was able to rumor them past security, find out where Vanya was and get to an elevator without incident. “I hope we find Vanya in time.” said Allison.

The lights flickered and the elevator stuttered and when the doors opened onto the sixth floor all three siblings plastered themselves against the walls of the elevator feeling the pressure of Vanya’s powers. Looking out they could see a man laying dead on the floor, they proceeded to pull themselves out of the elevator. Allison was out first and found refuge on the floor behind a wooden partition, Diego was next and joined her, and when Ben/Klaus followed he stumbled and Diego had to pull him over.

“Um, question guys. Who are we trying to save Vaya from?”

“FBI!” said Allison and Diego.

“Okay, but if they’re all dead, why hasn’t she stopped?”

Allison and Diego shared frightened looks as the energy continued to pulse behind them.

**End of Chapter 8**


	9. "743"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: “Okay, but if they’re all dead, why hasn’t she stopped?”
> 
> Allison and Diego shared frightened looks as the energy continued to pulse behind them.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. I also want to remind everyone reading this, that while Five and Xylda may look thirteen they are actually 58 and 30 respectively. 
> 
> Note: Sorry again for a short chapter

**“743”**

“Vanya’s in the room at the end of the hall.” said Diego having taken a peek around the corner.

“How do you suppose we get to her?” asked Allison.

“I haven’t figured that one out yet.” admitted Diego.

“One of us needs to get to her and talk her down!” shouted Ben/Klaus, “WHo knows what they did to her, to scare her this badly!”

“You think she’s doing this ‘cause she’s scared?!” asked Diego incredibly.

“Taken in for questioning by the FBI during the Cold War… Wouldn’t you be?!” said Allison.

“Fair point.” He looked back down the hallway, “Ladies first.” he said.

Allison rolled her eyes and crawled over Diego to push her way down the hall. She crawled on her hands and knees, and pushed herself to her feet, “Vanya!” she shouted, hoping her sister would hear her and stop, “Vanya!” It felt like trying to push a heavy door with a boulder tied to her waist, “Ahhh!” she shouted, but she was knocked off her feet and back down the hall by a powerful burst.

Diego winced in sympathy when her unconscious form slammed to a stop against the wooden barrier, “All right, I’m going.” He said in determination.

“Good luck.” said Ben/Klaus.

Diego remained on the floor and gripped a knife in each hand. Stabbing them into the ground he used them to pull himself down the hall, like a climbing pegwall. 

_ “What the hell are you doing?” _ Demanded Klaus.

“Saving our sister.” said Ben

_ “Did it ever accrue to you that it’s my body you’re risking, not yours!” _

“This is about Vanya, not you, Klaus!”

_ “Well, you can count me out.” _ Ben felt Klaus try and push him out of his body,  _ “Diego and Allison are great at all that hero shit. They can save her.” _

“Klaus!”

_ “Vanya would understand ‘cause she has realistic expectations of what I am. And what I am is sexy trash.” _

“You’re being a coward Klaus.”

_ “Why? Because I don’t want to die? Who does? And Martyrs aren’t around to enjoy the victory party ‘cause they’re dead!” _

Diego stopped pushing himself, he knew he wouldn’t be able to get any farther, but looking to his left he saw a fire hose bolted to the wall, he could give Ben the opportunity to save Vanya. “Ben!” he called out, Ben peeked over the top of the wooden barrier, “I’m not going to make it! It’s up to you buddy! You gotta save the world!” He pulled himself as close as he could and stretched his arm out to pull the lever. He grunted as he was propelled back to slam against the barrier and Allison.

Klaus whimpered in his own head,  _ “Okay, Klaus. You can do this.” _ He said psyching himself up.  _ “You fought in Vietnam. You survived a family of eight. And you once wore a sarong to a fraternity party and got a shitload of numbers. Okay. Let’s do this Ben.” _ Ben smiled and working together they got up and grabbed the fire hose. Even with their combined strength they strained to pull themselves down the hall, when they reached the end of the hose they braced themselves before hiring themselves to the door. When they got the door opened, they were flung down the hallway to join Diego and Allison, and the force knocked Ben out of Klaus’s body. Klaus groaned, both from the impact and the abrupt de-possession, opening his eyes he looked up to see Ben standing over him. “It’s up to you, bro. We couldn’t save you, but you can save her…” Ben nodded as Klaus lost consciousness. He stared down the hall, his ghostly body allowing him to endure the force of Vanya’s powers and he walked down the hall.

**Meanwhile with Luther, both Fives and Xylda**

Xylda tried to calm younger Five down as his psychosis became worse. His twitching was worse and he yelled at people who passed them, “What are you looking at! Huh! You see something funny!... Mind your business!... Or I’ll give you something to stare at!... You wish you could pull off these shorts!”

“Okay! That’s it!” Xylda pulled him to a stop and cupped his face, “You need to focus, Five. Old you over there is trying to convince Luther to help him kill you and unfortunately our brother is humoring him, but…”

“I could definitely convince him to help me.” He turned his head to glare at his old self’s back.

Xylda forced him to face her again, “Which is why you need to keep a level head. So stop focusing on him and focus on me, huh?” Five closed his eyes and took a few breaths, “That’s it.” she said, seeing his twitching lessen. “Just focus on me and what we need to do.”

“Get the briefcase.” he said.

“Again.”

“Get the briefcase.” He opened his eyes and nodded his head.

His eyes didn’t look as wild, but their glint still worried her, “Come on.” She dragged him across the bridge to catch up with Luther and his other self. Luther was stopped at the stairs waiting for them.

“Hey, sibs. How you doing?” he asked with an awkward upbeat chuckle.

“He’s gonna kill me isn’t he?” said Five.

Luther scoffed, “What? What, him?” He laughed to cover up his nervousness, “He’s gonna kill you? Yeah, right. That’s ridiculous.”

“Luther I don’t know whether to be reassured or disappointed by how terrible a liar you are.” Bemoaned Xylda.

Luther outed, “I am not.”

“You’re a worse liar than you are a spotter.” said Five.

“Okay, whose fault is that? What good is having a spotter if you won’t even listen to him?” countered Luther.

“So you admit you’re conspiring against me?”

“Do you admit that you’re suffering from paradox psychosis?” fired back Luther.

“Both of you shut up.” ordered Xylda and both men’s jaws clicked shut. “Five, you’re a paranoid son-of-a-bitch even when you aren’t suffering from Paradox Psychosis. So you wanting to kill you isn’t a shock.” Five grumbled and crossed his arms, “Luther we have two objectives and only two objectives; One: to get the briefcase and Two: make sure that Five makes the jump to 2019. No one is killing either Five, got it?”

“Hey, I don’t love it either, but he’s actually got a good plan.” defended Luther.

Five’s lips formed a grim line, “What? The one where you guys off me and then jump to 2019 to save the world?”

Luther looked at Five in shock, “Yeah, wait, how did you know that?”

“Because I’m him, and that is  _ exactly _ what I would do if I were trying to kill me!” explained Five.

“Okay, all I know is that we’ve got one Five too many, and you’re the one acting like a maniac.”

“‘Maniac’?” repeated Five, he scoffed, “Luther, you have seen nothing. If you want a maniac, I will show you maniac.”

“Okay…” Xylda placed her hands on Five’s shoulders and pulled him out of Luther’s face and shoved him to walk in the correct direction. “How about we don’t push him into stage Seven prematurely.”

“But--”

Five turned around and grabbed Luther’s arms, “Okay, Luther, listen. I know your feeble mind only responds to age and authority, so listen very closely.” Five began to speak slowly, “Yet again, you are experiencing daddy issues,” Luther rolled his eyes, but Xylda hummed in agreement, “This time with your own brother, which honestly makes me a bit crazy. But remember this: I’m 14 days older than him. I have seniority here. So it is  _ me _ you should be listening to, Luther.” He threw his arms out wide, “I’m the daddy here!”

“Oh, I am never letting you live this down.” said Xylda shoving his arms down.

“Five, please, you’re being unseemly.” admonished Luther.

Xylda snorted, “Please. This is nothing compared to some of the stuff Klaus has done when he was high.”

Five rubbed his neck, “I admit there is the possibility that I may not be in my fully… right mind right now.”

Luther and Xylda smiled, “Okay, good.” But their relief was short lived when next he said.

“But whatever I’ve got,  _ he’s _ got it too.” Five walked off ahead of them. 

Xylda sighed, “One step forward, two steps back.”

“You three quit grab-assing. We’re here.” called out Five Senior. He led them all to the corner fencing of a parking lot.

Herb was nervous as he was brought to the Handler’s office by a security guard, but he had a part to play. So he would be as brave as he could be. “Herb.” greeted the Handler when he entered the office, “Tell Lila what you told me.”

“I, uh, didn’t actually offer it up.” corrected Herb as the door was closed, “You put a knife to my throat.”

“Go on.” ordered the Handler.

Herb turned to Lila, “Diego commandeered the Infinite Switchboard, then hijacked a briefcase… and left the Commission.

“Told you.” sing-songed the Handler smugly.

“He also held a knife to my throat.” added Herb.

“I knew he was a grifting little gonad.” said the Handler, “So, what are you gonna do about him?” she questioned her daughter.

Lila’s head snapped up with a frown, “Me?”

The Handler turned to her, “Your puppy, your responsibility. Or are you forgetting our little arrangement?”

Lila had a little moment of realization, “You only let him stay hoping I’d have to kill him.”

“Hmm.” she hummed admiring another article of clothing.

“Was this all a test?” demanded Lial with her arms crossed.

“Everything is a test, darling.” The Handler moved to her desk to pour a drink and Herb sent Lila an imploring look that confused her, “The question is… why are you failing it?”

“Let me handle it my way.” pleaded Lila.

“Does your way include decapitation?” questioned the Handler. “Quartering? Boiling, thumbscrews, burning at the stake, or Chinese water torture?”

“I want to let him go.” said Lila boldly, and she saw Herb give her a smile, which he quickly hid from the Handler.

The Handler did not look pleased, “Peons… out.” she ordered. Herb motioned them all out and gave one last look to Lila and mouthed  _ Come find me _ . Before leaving and closing the door.

**Meanwhile with Ben and Vanya**

Ben entered the room holding Vanya and frowned at seeing her convulsing body tied to a chair that was hooked up to an electrical machine. Reaching for her clenched fist he felt sparks of electricity hit his hand causing him pain, but he didn’t stop. Gripping it he turned and sat down on the chair and melted into her.

He landed in the familiar dark staircase of the Academy and he could hear music in the distance, “Vanya?” he called out. Not hearing a reply he walked down the staircase and to the dining room where a blue spotlight illuminated the white violin on the table and as he got closer the volume of the music increased. He touched it and found himself in what looked to be a barin replica of the living room, but it was empty and completely white with thin columns and a black and white checkered floor.

He saw Vanya curled up behind some pillars, going to her he called out softly, “Vanya?” She lifted herself slowly and stared at Ben who slowly dropped down to one knee, “Do you remember me?” he asked gently.

She trembled and stared at him in fright, “I remember everything.” She began to cry, “And I’m doing it again, aren’t I?” Ben didn’t say anything, which was enough for her, “What’s wrong with me?” Ben moved to sit on the floor with his legs crossed, “Why can’t I control myself like the rest of you guys?”

“It’s not too late.” he said, “You can go back. There’s still time.”

Vanya shook her head, “I don’t deserve to live.” she said wetly, “I almost killed Allison and Xylda. I destroyed the world. I’m a monster.”

Ben scooted closer to her, “Dad treated you like a bomb before you ever were one. He was... so scared of your power he never let you use it.” he said gently, “Drugged you up, kept you numb for years.” He reached out for her hands, “That’s messed up Vanya. No wonder you couldn’t control it.” Vanya slowly took a hold of his hands, “Dad couldn’t handle your anger. That doesn’t mean you can’t. And maybe you have a right to be pissed off and sad and messed up, but… it’s a shitty world full of shitty people sometimes. You aren’t a monster. You’re my sister.” Vanya’s smile was small, “And right now, our siblings are risking everything out there trying to save you.” A few tears slipped down her cheeks, “You aren’t alone at the table anymore, Vanya. You can do this.”

He gave her an encouraging smile and his hand began to crumble into bits of blue light. Vanya got up and kept a hold of his hand as the rest of his body began to break apart as well, “Ben, what’s happening to you?” she asked in worry.

He got up slowly, “I can’t go back with you.”

She frowned, “What do you mean? I’m hurting you aren’t I?”

He shook his head, “It’s not your fault. I’ve been holding on as long as I can in here, but… “

Her lips trembled, “You shouldn’t have come for me.”

“Vanya… I died 17 years ago.” He shook his head, “All the rest of this… these years with .Klaus… its all been gravy.” Vanya watched him dissolve sadly, “At least this time I get to say goodbye. Can I ask you a weird favor?”

“Anything.” said Vanya.

“Can you hug me as I go? It’s been a long time since--” Vanya rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him tightly. She let her tears fall and her shoulders shake, “Tell Klaus and Xylda something for me, will you?” He leaned his mouth to his ear and whispered something in her ear.

Vanya’s eyes flew open and her surge came to an abrupt end, chairs and bodies being held to the ceiling and walls fell to the ground with clangs and thunks.

**Back at the Commission with Herb**

He waited nervously in a stairway clutching two pieces of paper in his hands. When Lila appeared at the top of the stairs her look was firm, “Uh…” He grunted when she stepped down to him, gripped his shirt in her fists and held him against the wall.

“All right, sweaty gerbil man. Tell me where Diego went or I’ll staple your colon to your nose and let you die on your own farts.”

Herb frowned, “That’s… so… vivid.” She jostled him a little, “Wait, wait, wait, wait! No, no, no! I’m on your side. No, I helped him escape.”

Lila’s grip went slack and she released Herb, “Escape? Well, he was supposed to stay here with me. Where did he go?”

“Back to help his family.” he looked at her warily, “Are you really going to kill him?”

Lila frowned, “Of course not. I love him.” she said honestly.

Herb smiled, “Oh, that’s--” She grabbed him again, “Oh!”

“Say a word and I’ll crush you.” she threatened.

“I won’t. I swear I won’t” he promised and licked his lips nervously, “But I do have something important to show you.”

Lila released him and Herb held up the two pieces of paper, “It’s about your parents.” Her eyes widened and tried to snatch the papers but he moved them away, her eyes narrowed and he spoke quickly, “Wait. You have to promise that you’ll listen to someone before you do anything.”

“If you’re lying to me…”

He shook his head frantically, “I’m not! I swear I’m not! I want to help Diego. He’s my friend.” 

Lila nodded and Herb led her quickly deeper into the Commission and to a locked door. Herb let her in and Lila was shocked at what she saw inside, “You’re supposed to be dead.”

AJ chuckled, “Funny how that’s going around now a days.”

**Meanwhile with Luther, the Fives and Xylda**

They watched Five Senior put together his rifle as he listened to a radio broadcast of the President’s arrival. “This is my favorite part.” said Five Senior, “The calm before the storm.”

Younger Five stared at the Briefcase by his other selfs feet, “Look. The briefcase.” he gasped out.

“No, don’t. You won’t be able to get there in time.” cautioned Luther.

“Of course I will.” refuted Five. “This is our only chance.”

“No, it’s really not.” denied Xylda.

“Hey, uh, remind me… what was the final stage of paradox psychosis again?”

“Homicidal rage.” said Five uncaring.

“Right.” Luther frowned and eyes Five, “That’s great.”

“Five listen to me…” Five began to creep towards the briefcase.

“No! No!” hissed Luther. When Five jumped so did his other self and they switched places, with Five Senior still holding the rifle. “Oh, shit.” cursed Luther.

“Bad idea, shit-heel.”

Having enough Luther stepped forward and yanked the gun out of Five Seniors hands, “Stop it! All right?” Both Five stepped closer to him, “Both of you. Pull it together.” Xylda edged around the three and towards the briefcase, “Now Kennedy if gonna be coming around that corner any minute. Okay? So, everyone, let’s just take a deep breath…” He took a deep breath in and let it out, and both Five’s shakingly followed his example, “Now, we’re all family here, okay? So can we all just try to get along for a few more minutes?”

Younger Five faced his counterpart, “You want it?”

“Go ahead.” said the other with a smile.

“What’s that?’ asked Luther just as the younger Five kicked him in the balls. He groaned in agony and bent over.

“Ooohhh!” Hissed Xylda in sympathy, “That’s gotta sting.”

“Now…” 

“Where were we?” finished Five Senior. 

Xylda watched both Fives jump around the parking lot in quick succession, throng punches and kicks. She shook herself out of her amazement and grabbed the briefcase, “That’s one task down.”

When Luther caught his breath he began to demand, “Would you please--” Both Fives appeared and kicked him again. He recovered faster this time, “Hey!” he shouted, “I;m getting really sick of this!” Xylda couldn’t stop from giggling at his upset look.

Both Fives appeared again, both panting heavily, “Getting tired yet?” questioned Five Senior.

“I can do this all day.”

“Guys this has to stop.” said Luther firmly.

“Eat shit, ape man.” responded the Fives, before running at each other, their energies pushing against each other and causing a small burst of energy throwing them both away from the other.

Luther reached down and picked up the rifle, “Hey! Assholes! I am done listening to you both.  _ I’m _ in charge now.”

“Luther.” called Xyda, “Give me the rifle.” she placed the briefcase down behind her, between herself and the fence and held out her hands.

When he tossed it she caught it, “Now Xylda shoot him!” ordered Five Senior.

“No! Xylda shot him!” demanded the younger Five.

She emptied the chamber of it’s bullet, “No one is shooting anybody!” She shouted. “I am very disappointed in the both of you.” Both Five looked sheepish and then galred at the other. “Stop it.” she ordered.

“Sorry, dear.” they said.

Seeing an opportunity Luther struck quickly and knocked Five Senior down, “Now! Open the portal!” Shouted Luther.

Five nodded in shock, “Right.” Xylda reached down and took a firm hold of the briefcase. Five closed his eyes to focus and a familiar energy gather in his fists he panted as the portal formed, Luther and Xylda could see their siblings gathering int the academy courtyard just like when Five first traveled back.

“Luther grab Five Senior! He needs to make the jump.”

Luther nodded and went over to the older Five who was staring into the portal in shock, “Time for you to go home old man.” Luther threw the other Five into the portal just as a fire extinguisher sailed through, bypassing Five Senior and hitting Luther on the head, knocking him to the ground.

Five quickly shut the portal as soon as his other self sailed through, “Yes! We did it!” He cried out. Xylda whooped and dropping the briefcase pulled him into a hug.

**Meanwhile with Diego, Allison and Vanya**

Vanya looked around the room and saw the bodies of the agent and the nurse. She quickly got herself out of the chair when she spotted her siblings bodies down the hall, her bare feet slapping on the ground as she went to them quickly. “Are you okay?’ she asked, watching them slowly lift themselves up, now feeling the pressure was gone.

“Vanya?” asked Allison.

“Physically or emotionally?” asked Klaus.

“Welcome back Klaus.” said Diego.

All three smiled at Vanya who sighed in relief, “You’re all alive.”

“Did Ben save the world or what?” asked Klaus, Vanya winched at the reminder of what Ben did.

“I think so.” said Allison, “Buildings still here.”

Diego looked at his watch, “Kennedy’s a few minutes away. I can still save him.” He went over to a window and pulled the blinds up.

“No, Diego, wait!” She got up chased after him, while Vanya bent down to help Klaus up.

“Hey, Vanny. How you feelin’?”

Vanya smiled sadly, “Less angry.”

Klaus smiled and booped her nose, “Good.”

**Back With Luther, Five and Xylda**

_ “... And here they come. The presidential car is moving out…” _

Five’s eyes widened, “Guys! Guys! Here he comes!” He went to the fence with Luther and Xylda following. Five grabbed the suitcase to stand on so he could see over the fence.

Luther pointed, “Look, there’s dad. What do we do?”

Something caught Five’s eye, “Uh-oh.”

Xylda and Luther turned to see what Five saw, “Ah, Shit.” groaned Xylda.

“Diego.” hissed Five gripping the heads of the fence. Their brother was sprinting towards their dad and they watched him tackle the man to the ground, but judging by the look on Diego’s face, something was wrong.

When the gunshots rang out, Diego sprung up, “No!” People screamed as they ran away and police sirens began to wail.

_ “KILF bulletin, from Dallas, three shots reportedly were fired at the motorcade of president Kennedy today, near the downtown section. KILF News is checking out the report. We will have further…” _

**_Back at the Commission an alarm ranging out as red lights flashed._ **

**End of Chapter 9**


	10. Apology and announcement

Hey, everyone!

I am letting you all know that I will be waiting to publish Chapter 10!

I want to wait until Netflix either confirms or denies a third season. Yes we were left with an amazing cliffhanger with the Sparrow Academy, but as we all know that is not a guarantee of a next season.

I love this series and want to do it justice! So I will take my time.

I am more than happy to create one-shots for either season 1 & 2! Just message me you ideas and I'll see what I can do!


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